Woman kills husband, passes off lover as husband

A 27-year-old woman and her paramour were arrested on Sunday for killing the woman's husband and then enacting an elaborate drama to hide the murder.

Police said the woman's paramour, after the murder, actually set himself on fire to pose as the dead husband.

"The woman was married to Sudhakar Reddy and has two children from the marriage. She was in a relationship with Rajesh. The two killed Reddy on November 27 and disposed of his body in a forested part of Mahabubnagar district," a senior police officer said.

The murder happened in Nagarkurnool, police said.

Rajesh then poured kerosene over himself, and suffered burns to his face and upper body.

"The woman lodged a complaint with the police stating that a group of four people attacked her husband at their house and poured petrol on his face and other parts of the body and set him on fire. She then shifted him to a hospital in Hyderabad as her husband Reddy," Nagarkurnool Sub-Division Deputy Superintendent of Police Laxmi Narayana said.

However, Sudhakar Reddy's relatives told hospital authorities that the man undergoing treatment was somebody else. Investigations revealed the murder and subsequent cover-up by the two, said police.

"The woman said that she along with Rajesh had hit Sudhakar Reddy with a sharp-edged object on his head and then strangled him to death. They later dumped his body in a forest after setting it on fire," the officer said.

The DSP said that the woman has confessed that she got Rajesh admitted in the hospital by passing him as off her husband as the two later planned to live together. Police recovered Reddy's body in a highly decomposed state from a forest in Mahabubnagar.

Both have been booked on charges of murder. Rajesh has not been arrested yet as he is undergoing treatment for burns.