Man kills pregnant wife to marry her relative, held

Presents himself as victim in fabricated robbery bid

A day after a 25-year-old pregnant woman was found dead at her house in Chhawala of south-west Delhi, police have arrested her husband claiming that he killed her to marry her relative.

Shama was nine-month pregnant. She and her husband Latif, residents of Deenpur village in Najafgarh, were found with their hands and legs tied, and mouths taped on Thursday morning in their house, which was ransacked.

Latif had alleged that robbers had overpowered him, killed his wife and ransacked the room.

“However, Latif was interrogated at length over allegations by Shama’s family members, and was seen changing his statements,” said Anil Kumar Ojha, additional commissioner of police (south-west).

His contradictory statements were exposed and finally he broke down. He confessed to have murdered Shama and presented the incident as a case of robbery.
Earlier, Latif claimed that he had cordial relations with his wife, but the version was contradicted by his in-laws. Shama’s family members alleged that Latif used to beat her, and wanted to get rid of her.

It also came to light that Latif wanted to marry a relative of his wife, and had told Shama about it.

“Latif had a chat on Wednesday with Shama on his second marriage, which she vehementaly opposed. Finding no alternative and seeing the adamant behavior of his wife, he decided to eliminate her,” Ojha added.

Latif smothered Shama when she was sleeping. After confirming that she was dead, he made a call to his father and presented a cooked up story of robbery.
A case of murder has been registered against Latif with Chhawala police station.