Husband Bludgeons Sleeping Wife With Pan, Suspects She's Having An Affair

A man in Mumbai, India, has been arrested for murdering his wife, whom he suspected was having an extramarital affair, by hitting her on the head using a pan Saturday.

The husband, identified as Harinder Shaha, 37, turned himself in to the Bhandup police station and surrendered after killing his 21-year-old wife, the Hindustan Times reported.

According to police, Shaha, a labor contractor, lived with his wife Rita Devi and their 2-year-old son in Bhandup. The couple got married four years ago in their native place in Bihar.

The couple used to fight often, and Shaha suspected his wife of having an extramarital affair, police learned in their preliminary investigation.

On Saturday night, Shaha returned home and noticed that Rita was talking to someone on the phone. Shaha asked her to disconnect the call and not to talk to anyone when he is around. A heated argument followed, said Nitin Unhavane, a senior inspector at the Bhandup police station.

After the fight, Rita went to sleep, while Shaha, who was intoxicated at the time, picked up a pan from the kitchen and hit his wife's head several times, Unhavane added.

After murdering his wife, Shaha came straight to the police station and narrated to the police what happened.

Police officers rushed to his house and found the wife's body, which was immediately sent to a hospital for post-mortem.

Rita's elder sister Kavita, who resides in the same area, was informed about the incident.

A first information report (FIR) was registered, according to a statement from Kavita.

Shaha was taken into police custody. After recording witnesses' testimony, he was arrested on the charge of murder Sunday.

He appeared in court and was remanded to police custody until Tuesday, said Unhavane.

Police are continuing their investigation to know if there are any other reasons behind the killing, another police officer who is part of the investigating team confirmed.

In September, another man killed his wife in Kalwa after accusing her of having extramarital affairs, the Hindustan Times reported. The couple had been married for two years.

The man hit his wife and then strangled her throat with his hand. After she lost consciousness, he rushed her to the Civil Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Manohar Awhad, a senior police inspector at Kalwa police station, said, "We sent the body for post-mortem and it was confirmed that she died due to strangulation. We detained him and during the investigation, he revealed that he murdered her due to suspicion of her character. Both have been quarreling with each other over the same since the wedding."

A case was registered against the man under the charge of murder at Kalwa police station.