Man who murdered wife based on suspicion held

A 27-year-old man, who allegedly killed his wife in the presence of their three children at their residence in North-west Delhi’s Ashok Vihar area, has been arrested, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Ashish Kumar, suspected that his wife had an extra-marital affair with their paying guest, said DCP (Northwest) Vijay Singh. The victim, identified as Jyoti, and Ashish married around seven years ago without the consent of their families and started living in a separate house. They had three children -two sons, aged five and three years and a daughter aged one, said police.

According to the police, the incident was reported on September 11 when the Jyoti’s body was found inside her house with her wrist slit. The three children were there, crying beside her body. The police registered a case of murder and started looking for the husband, who had fled by then.

On Tuesday, the police received a tip-off about Ashish’s hideout and arrested him from Jaitpur extension area near Delhi-Faridabad border.

During interrogation, he told the police that the couple had a paying guest who had not paid rent for several months. While Ashish insisted that he should be asked to vacate the house, his wife refused to do so, leading to suspicion over an illicit relation between the two, said an official.

On September 11, a heated argument broke out between the two, regarding the same issue, during which Ashish allegedly slit the wrist of his wife with a knife and fled, said the official. After the incident, Ashish took up the job of a truck cleaner and kept moving through cities in eastern and northern India. When a police team arrested him, he initially tried to mislead them about his identity but later broke down, police said.