Palghar, Jul 23 (PTI) A 28-year-old woman arrested along with her paramour in connection with the murder of her husband had hired a mason for digging a pit at her home in Nallasopara in Palghar district to bury her husband, police said.
The accused woman, identified as Chaman Devi, told the mason that she was constructing a new toilet. After burying the body of her husband, Vijay Chouhan (34), she took the help of one of her brothers-in-law to lay the tiles.
Her brother-in-law was not aware that Chouhan was buried in the pit, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone III) Suhas Bavche.
Devi and her paramour Monu Sharma (20) were arrested from Pune on Tuesday evening, a day after the decomposed body of Chouhan was exhumed from the couple’s home at Gangnipada in Nallasopara, a distant suburb of Mumbai.
Bavche said the police discovered the identity of Devi when they spotted her with the victim’s son in Hadapsar area, and the scarf she had covered her face with drifted, leading to her arrest.
He said Monu Sharma is studying in the final year of BSC (IT) in a college.
Earlier in the day, a court in Palghar district remanded Devi and Sharma in police custody till July 30.
According to police, the duo killed Chouhan and buried his body under floor tiles around two weeks ago.
The crime came to light when two brothers of Chouhan went to his home, which was filled with a foul smell emanating from the floor. Neighbours informed Chouhan’s brothers that he had not been seen since July 10, and Devi had also been missing since July 19, said police.
On being alerted, a police team arrived at the house and exhumed the body in the presence of doctors, forensic experts and local tehsildar.
Bawche told reporters that the two accused were next-door neighbours. “They wanted to get married, but saw Chouhan as a hurdle. They then decided to kill him,” the officer said.
He said three probe teams of Pelhar police worked on several inputs to trace the duo to Pune’s Hadapsar area, around 270km from Palghar, and nabbed them.
They have been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 103 (murder), 238 (destruction of evidence) and 3(5) (common intention) and further investigation was underway, according to police. PTI COR RSY NR NSK
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