The daughter-in-law of Bahujan Samaj Party Rajya Sabha MP Narendra Kashyap was found dead with a bullet injury on her temple at their residence in Sanjay Nagar here on Wednesday.
While Himanshi Kashyap’s (29) family claimed that she was murdered for dowry, her in-laws told the police that the bullet was self-inflicted and was a case of suicide.
The police are in the process of booking Himanshi’s husband, Sagar, and her in-laws for dowry death (Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code).
The daughter of BSP leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Hiralal Kashyap, Himanshi married Sagar in 2013 and the couple has a son.
Ghaziabad Superintendent of Police (City) Salman Taj Patil said the incident took place around noon. He said the police learnt of the death not from the MP’s family but from the authorities of Yashoda Hospital, where Himanshi was taken.
“When a team reached the hospital she had already been declared dead. We questioned the family members, who claimed that she had shot herself,” Mr. Patil said.
The police said at the time of the incident the MP, his wife and four relatives were in the house. They told the police they were on the ground floor while Himanshi was on the first floor.
Between 11.30 a.m. and noon, a relative, Sachin, was asked to inquire about Himanshi.
He went to the first floor and found the bedroom door open but the bathroom locked. “They told us that the bathroom was latched from inside,” Mr. Patil said.
When repeated knocks on the bathroom door went unanswered, another relative, Monu, came to the first floor to check.
The MP’s family told the police that Monu kicked open the bathroom door and found Himanshi lying in a pool of blood in an inverted position. There was a single gunshot injury on her temple, the police said.
In their statement to the police, the family claimed that Sagar had left home around 7.30 a.m. which the police are now verifying.
The police are awaiting the ballistic report to confirm if a pistol or some other firearm, the two licenced weapons with the family, was used in the incident.
Later, Himanshi’s uncle, Hari Om Kashyap, submitted a written complaint with the Kavi Nagar police station here. Ghaziabad SSP Dharmendra Singh said based on the complaint, an FIR will be registered.
