Man Stages Suicide Of Estranged Wife, Son By Hanging Bodies After Strangling Them To Death

A man has been arrested for strangling his wife and son to death, before hanging their bodies from the ceiling of her home to make it appear like a suicide.

The incident happened in the Indian city of Pune Tuesday morning. The bodies of Leena Sonawane, 35, and her son Om Sonawane, 7, were found by the woman's 10-year-old daughter, who alerted her grandparents, reports The Indian Express.

Leena's estranged husband, Sachin Sonawane, has been arrested in connection with the murder, and a search is on for a woman who is said to have helped him commit the murder.

Leena was living near her parents' home after separating from her husband two years ago. She ran a saloon and was supported by her parents.

While their divorce case was pending in court, Leena was seeing someone else, which enraged Sachin. Ever since he got a whiff of Leena's new relationship, Sachin had been harassing the victim, Pune Mirror reported.

The report adds that the accused and his female friend went to the victim's home around 4 am Tuesday. They beat her up, before strangling her and the child to death. The duo then hung the corpses from the ceiling before fleeing the home. All the while, the couple's 10-year-old daughter was sleeping nearby. The girl woke around 10:30 am and was traumatized to see the dead bodies. She ran out to her grandparents who rushed to the home. The woman's maternal uncle then immediately called the police.

Police treated it as a suicide initially. "Further probe revealed that the woman’s estranged husband was home in the early hours of Tuesday and killed his wife and son over differences from their past. He hanged their bodies to make it look like suicide," a senior police official told The Indian Express.

Both the bodies were sent to a government hospital for autopsy immediately.

In a similar incident, a woman and her two children were killed by her estranged husband in Missouri last month, two days after she posted some disturbing messages on Facebook.

Roseann McCulley and her two children were fatally shot by her estranged husband. During the investigation, police learned the couple's 1-year-old child was missing from the home but soon found the girl was dropped off at a relative's home and was safe.