--- title: India: Dalit Couple Hacked to Death description: A couple in India were murdered by a grocer Thursday after a disagreement over the debt of 15 rupees (22 cents) canonical: https://time.com/4430526/indian-couple-hacked-death/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-29T14:48:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:39:30.066Z article:section: World og:title: Indian Couple Hacked to Death Over 22 Cent Debt og:description: The couple, from India's lowest Dalit caste, were killed with an axe og:url: https://time.com/4430526/indian-couple-hacked-death/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Indian Couple Hacked to Death Over 22 Cent Debt twitter:description: The couple, from India's lowest Dalit caste, were killed with an axe twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Indian Couple Hacked to Death Over 22 Cent Debt by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 29, 2016 2:48 PM CUT by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 29, 2016 2:48 PM CUT A couple in [India](http://time.com/4425672/india-manipur-irom-sharmila-hunger-strike-end-politics/ "undefined") were murdered by a grocer Thursday following a disagreement over a debt of 15 rupees (22 cents). The couple, from India’s lowest [Dalit caste](http://time.com/4014444/india-khap-panchayat-two-sisters-rape-ordered-uttar-pradesh/ "undefined") were attacked with an axe in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and found dead with injuries to their neck, police said. Bharat Singh, 65, and his wife Mamta, 60, reportedly owed the local shopkeeper money for biscuits they bought for their three children earlier in the week, the [BBC reported](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36921346 "undefined"). They were on their way to work Thursday morning when the grocer, identified as Ashok Mishra, confronted the couple and demanded they pay him right away. When they told him they would return the money after receiving their daily wages that evening, Mishra allegedly attacked and killed the couple with an axe. Police arrested Mishra and his wife Rajni. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4430526/indian-couple-hacked-death/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4430526/indian-couple-hacked-death/"},"headline":"Indian Couple Hacked to Death Over 22 Cent Debt","datePublished":"2016-07-29T14:48:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:39:30.066Z","description":"The couple, from India's lowest Dalit caste, were killed with an axe","url":"https://time.com/4430526/indian-couple-hacked-death/","keywords":["India"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4430526/indian-couple-hacked-death/","name":"Indian Couple Hacked to Death Over 22 Cent Debt"}}]}] ```