Wife, lover, friends held for murder of man after three months of marriage in Rajasthan

Jaipur: A 23-year-old woman allegedly orchestrated the murder of her husband, just three months after their marriage, in collusion with her long-time boyfriend and two accomplices in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar, police said on Thursday.

The accused wife, Anjali (23), her lover Sanjay (25), and his friends Rohit (20) and Siddharth (20) were arrested on Tuesday, Sri Ganganagar SP Amrita Duhan said.

The incident occurred on the night of January 30 in the district when Ashish Kumar (27), a resident of 1 KLM village under the Rawla police station area, went for a walk with his wife after dinner.

He was allegedly attacked with sticks on a deserted stretch of road near the village, and later strangled with a muffler when he did not succumb immediately, the SP said.

What initially appeared to be a case of robbery and murder was later found to be a pre-planned murder conspired by the woman, Duhan said.

Anjali had been in a relationship with Sanjay for the past 6-7 years and was unhappy with her arranged marriage to Ashish on October 30 last year, the police said, adding that her family was aware of the affair.

Both Anjali and Sanjay were graduates and had studied at the same college in Sri Ganganagar, where their relationship developed. After marriage, Anjali allegedly wanted to pursue an MA in Sri Ganganagar to continue meeting Sanjay, but her husband opposed it, leading to resentment, the police said.

She conveyed this to Sanjay. Investigations revealed that 16 days before the murder, Anjali visited her parental home in Sadulshahar, where she and Sanjay allegedly finalised the plan to eliminate Ashish.

Ashish had joined as a private school teacher just three days before his death.

"On the fateful night, after dinner, Anjali took Ashish for a walk. She alerted Sanjay, who arrived with his accomplices and hid in nearby bushes. When she signalled, the trio assaulted Ashish with sticks, rendering him unconscious, and then strangled him," Circle Officer Prashant Kaushik said.

"To present the crime as robbery, Anjali handed over Ashish's mobile phone and her earrings to the accused," the police said, adding that she pretended to be unconscious near the spot.

"On receiving information around 9 pm about the incident, the police rushed them to Rawla CHC, where doctors declared Ashish dead," he said.

Suspicion arose during questioning and detailed investigation, including analysis of call details and the post-mortem report, exposed the conspiracy, the police said.