BHOPAL: A 26-year-old bride was shot dead at her wedding reception in Bhopal on Thursday night. Jayshree Namdeo's 30-year-old cousin, Anurag Namdeo, killed her for rejecting his offer to marry her. 
 
 
 
 Anurag had bought a pistol a day before to kill Jayshree. He had planned the murder 20 days back after he had stumbled upon Jayshree's engagement photograph on Facebook. 
 
 
 
 Jayshree, a doctor, was the only child of her parents, who worked at Gandhi Medical College here. Her family disapproved of the relationship. But Anurag had on several occasions warned them against marrying her off. 
 
 
 
 Police said Anurag stealthily entered the wedding hall from the rear side. He had masked his face as he quietly climbed onto the dais and went on a shooting spree. 
 
 
 
 One bullet hit Jayshree just below her throat. Anurag then tried to shoot the groom, Rohit Namdev. But Rohit's reflexes were quick and he raised Anurag's hand that wielded the gun. The bullet missed the groom by a whisker. Anurag then tried to shoot himself, but by then he was overpowered by the guests. 
 
 
 
 Jayshree was rushed to hospital where doctors pronounced her dead. Anurag is battling for his life after he was assaulted. Another guest too was wounded. 
 
 
 
 The slain bride's father, Ghanshyam Das, told journalists he never thought the youth, whom he looked after like his son, would kill his daughter. The girl's family was aware about Anurag's feelings towards their daughter. 
 
 
 
 Anurag had stayed at the girl's place four years back for his bank exams. He had then begun loving Jayshree. Anurag told police his mother had approved of the relationship. He desperately wanted to marry her. Anurag had been threatening the girl and her family, who snapped ties with him. 
 
 
 
 "We had planned to convince Anurag after the marriage. In the past, Anurag would fight with anyone who tried to dissuade him and would threaten relatives. He once sent a threatening SMS to me," said a relative, Shailendra. ||||| 
 
 
 
 Jayshree (inset); Anurag posing with a rifle in a photo on his Facebook page. 
 
 A wedding celebration came to an abrupt end in Bhopal when a man shot dead the bride, his first cousin, on the stage when the newly married couple was posing for photographs with guests late on Thursday. 
 
 Anurag Singh, 31, shot Jayshree Namdeo, 26, from very close range and appeared to turn the pistol towards himself when relatives overpowered him and thrashed him at Sundervan Marriage Garden in the Lalghati locality around 11.15 pm. One more shot was fired in the melee and a guest was injured. 
 
 Anurag, who was nearly lynched and had to be hospitalised, told the police that he loved Jayshree, a doctor posted in the children’s ward of the Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal, and could not bear to see her getting married to another man. 
 
 Jayshree got engaged to Rohit Namdeo, a post-graduate student of surgery in the same college, on February 3. Anurag said he had warned Rohit not to marry his love interest after the couple changed their relationship status on their Facebook pages, and decided to kill her when 
 
 he saw the engagement photograph. 
 
 Jayshree and Anurag went to the same coaching institute in Bhopal a few years ago when, he told the police, he fell in love with her. In a Facebook post immediately after her engagement he talked about taking his life. A frequent Facebook user, he also posted photographs posing with a rifle. 
 
 He recently changed the cover photo of his account to the words “JUST WAIT AND WATCH” in red background. 
 
 Jayshree’s father said he had not invited his sister’s family to the wedding when he learnt that his nephew was against it. “We never thought he would go that far,” her father Ghanashyam said on Friday. 
 
 Anurag was not stopped from entering the marriage venue because he was known to be a relative. He had carried a country-made pistol from Gadhakota, Sagar, and waited near the stage for an hour or so before getting close to his target. Jayshree was rushed to a nearby private hospital where she was declared dead on arrival. 
 
 Anurag was bleeding severely and lying on the ground near the stage when the police arrived and took him away. SP Arvind Saxena said Anurag had come well-prepared and did not repent killing his cousin saying that’s all he wanted to do after she refused to marry him. 
 
 Jayshree’s father Ghanashyam retired as a supervisor from Madhya Pradesh Power Generating Company. Anurag is the son of his younger sister. 
 
 Anurag lost his father some time ago and earned a modest salary as a supervisor with a private bank he joined in October 2012. Ghanashyam reportedly helped Anurag after his father’s death. Anurag had stayed in Ghanashyam’s house five years ago. 
 
 Besides his gender and date of birth, the only basic information Anurag provided on his Facebook account was: “Interested in.. women.”
– In hindsight, the words "Just watch and wait" on his Facebook page may have been a warning. Disguised as a photographer, Anurag Singh, 31, walked into his cousin's wedding in India this week and shot her dead as she was saying her vows, the Daily Mail reports. Several reports say he did it because she "cheated him," but the Indian Express and Times of India go into greater detail, portraying Singh as a man lovestruck by Jayshree Namdeo, 26, ever since he lived in her family's house five years ago while doing his bank exams. Namdeo, a pediatrician, refused his hand in marriage, and Singh reacted to her engagement by saying on Facebook that he might kill himself. Her family knew about his opposition to the marriage but "never thought he would go that far," the bride's father said. At the wedding in Bhopal, Singh waited the near the stage for an hour before shooting Namdeo, and tried to shoot the groom and himself but only grazed himself and injured a guest. The crowd savagely beat Singh before police arrived and took him away. Beyond Singh's banking career (described in one report as "modest"), all that's known about him was written on his Facebook account: "Interested in.. women."