Gwalior woman killed in celebratory firing at son’s ‘Chhathi’ ritual

Bhopal: A 32-year-old woman was allegedly killed after being hit by a bullet fired during preparations for celebratory gunfire at her infant son’s ‘Chhathi’ ceremony in Gwalior on Sunday. Instead of informing police, her husband and brother-in-law allegedly hid the body in a deep freezer and planned to quietly cremate her at night, police said.

The incident took place at Tripti Nagar, where the ceremony of Manoj Kushwah’s newborn son was underway. Family members, relatives and guests had gathered at the house for the celebration.

According to police, between 10 am and 11 am, Manoj’s younger brother, Yogesh Kushwah, was allegedly preparing for celebratory firing using a country-made pistol to mark the birth of his nephew. Yogesh was repeatedly loading and unloading the weapon when a shot got fired.

The bullet struck Jahnavi alias Jyoti Kushwah (32), the infant’s mother, in the head as she sat nearby. She collapsed on the spot and died before family members could arrange medical help, police said.

Instead of alerting police or taking the woman to hospital, Manoj and Yogesh allegedly decided to conceal the incident. According to police, the two arranged a large deep freezer and kept Jyoti’s body inside to prevent decomposition while planning her cremation without informing authorities. To avoid suspicion, neighbours were allegedly told that Jyoti had died due to illness.

However, the plan began to unravel late Sunday when a local resident grew suspicious and alerted Thatipur police. A police team reached the spot and recovered the woman’s body from the house. By then, Manoj and Yogesh had fled after spotting police vehicles approaching, officials said.

Police sent the body for postmortem and called a forensic team to inspect the house and collect evidence. Investigators are also searching for the illegal firearm allegedly used in the incident and trying to ascertain where it was procured from.

Police said a case has been registered against Manoj Kushwah and his younger brother Yogesh for allegedly concealing the death and attempting to dispose of the body without informing authorities.