Couple's noisy fight ends in wife's murder

A couple's noisy fight ended with murder in northern Bengaluru on Tuesday night. The drunk husband fatally stabbed the wife in a gruesome act of violence, police said.

Anganwadi worker Saraswathi, 36, got in an argument with her husband Mallikarjun as soon as he came home drunk. Married for 15 years, the couple has two children. Their second-floor house at Basappana Katte in Rajagopalanagar was gifted by Saraswathi's parents who live on the ground floor.

As an angry Saraswathi started abusing him, Mallikarjun grabbed a machete and kept attacking her until she collapsed in a pool of blood. Sensing what he had done, Mallikarjun closed the door from outside and fled the spot.

The couple's children were with their grandparents at the time. The elder son, Tarun, came home after some time and was stunned to find his mother in a pool of blood. His screams for help drew Saraswathi's father, Shivanna, upstairs. He called the police.

Police rushed to the spot and shifted the body for post-mortem. A senior police officer quoted Shivanna as saying that he had heard the couple quarrel late at night but ignored it since it was nothing unusual. Just six months ago, both the families had mediated in the couple's fight and brought about a truce. Mallikarjun, a native of Thyamagondlu near Nelamangala, is employed by a garment factory but is not regular at work, according to the police.