Bhopal, April 28 (IANS) A 30-year-old man in Madhya Pradesh was shot dead for marrying a Hindu girl, a police official said here Monday. “The man, Mohammad Haneef, was shot Sunday morning by unidentified people apparently because he married Hema Bhatnagar last July. The assailants, who perhaps knew Haneef, had tea with him at a restaurant in Yashodharman Nagar, where they had heated exchanges before killing him,” Mandsore Police Superintendent R.K. Choudhry said by phone.

Haneef had incurred the wrath of local people in Mandsore town, especially his father-in-law Lokendra Bhatnagar, when he married to Hema. The couple had a 25-day-old son.

Hema, who converted to Islam and changed her name to Heena after marriage, lodged a first information report (FIR) with the police that her family members, especially her father, were behind the killing. “He had threatened us to separate and had told Haneef to be prepared to die,” Heena has said in the FIR.

Heena used to work as a singer in an orchestra run by Haneef when they fell in love and decided to marry. The couple married in July 2007 and had to leave the town because of threats by the Bhatnagars and other families. They had approached the media in Mumbai, seeking help.

The police have registered a case and are looking for Bhatnagar and others accused in the murder.