Man kills wife, hangs self over father-in-law's greed

Enraged by his father-in-law's refusal to return cash and jewels that the he had handed over for safe-keeping, a man strangulated his wife to death and later hanged himself in Mungeli district, Chhattisgarh, police officials said Saturday.

Sub-divisional Officer of Police, Mungeli, J.P.N. Singh said, "Bodies of a young couple were found in the house of their relative. The deceased have been identified as Pramod Satnami (25) and his wife Tulsi Satnami (23). The incident occurred at Saragaon village, Lormi Tehsil, Mungeli district, about 100 km from the state capital.

"Some financial dispute is stated to be behind the incident," the police officer said.  Police also recovered a suicide note on the person of Pramod, in which he stated that he was killing his wife as her father refused to give back the money and ornaments that were entrusted to him by the couple.  

According to family sources, Pramod and his wife Tulsi were working as construction workers in Bhopal and had returned a few days back.  They were staying at the house of Pramod's uncle Sadaram. On Friday Sadaram along with family members had gone to work in his field while the couple stayed back at home.

In the evening when Sadaram returned and knocked on the door, no one opened it. After calling neighbours, Sadaram broke open the door and was shocked to see the body of Pramod hanging by a rope from the ceiling, while the body of Tulsi lay on a bed in the same room.

According to sources, before leaving for Bhopal, Pramod had given some money and ornaments to his father-in-law for safe-keeping.  On his return, he reportedly asked his father-in-law to return the money and ornaments, but his wife's father refused to part with the valuables.