JOIN USMan strangles wife, fails to kill himself
A 28-year-old man strangled his wife and left her body locked in their house for two days before surrendering at the local police station in east Delhi’s Karawal Nagar on Wednesday.
In the intervening period, he contemplated suicide and made a few half-hearted attempts to jump in front of running trains, but withdrew each time at the last moment.
He then spent a day and night at a local temple, crying out and begging forgiveness from the local deity.
On Wednesday morning, he had given up plans to kill himself and approached police and surrendered.
He then guided a police team to his house from where the decomposing body of his wife was recovered.
Culprit Laxman Gupta claimed during interrogation that he was tired of frequent quarrels with his wife Suman.
One such quarrel on Monday afternoon turned violent and Gupta strangled her, he claimed.
“Gupta has claimed that his wife would threaten to implicate him in a dowry harassment and domestic violence case. He also alleged that the woman was demanding a large sum of money from him to spare him. But we are being cautious with his claims and he might be trying to mislead investigations,” a police officer told Deccan Herald.
Police said they would speak to the families of the couple to know the kind of bonding they shared and what factors actually led to the quarrels between them.
The woman’s parents have been informed and they are on their way to Delhi from their native town in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh.
Laxman and Suman, 25, worked at a local moulding factory.
They had recently shifted into the rented accommodation in Karawal Nagar where the murder took place.
Though married for four years, the couple had no child.
Laxman told police he locked his wife’s body in the house after the murder and then left for the railway tracks to end his life.
Each time he thought of jumping in front of a running train, his fear would overtake him.
“Finally, he went to a local temple where he spent two nights and the entire Tuesday. He cried in front of the idol at the temple but did not tell anyone about the murder. The long period after the murder must have removed the suicide thoughts from his mind,” the officer said.
Laxman has been booked for the murder and sent to jail. Suman’s body has been sent to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital for an autopsy.