Ghaziabad: A 37-year-old man, along with his brother and uncle, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly murdering his wife and burning her body five months ago. The case came to light after the couple's 12-year-old daughter recently confided in her maternal uncle.
Details of the Crime
Police said that in January, the accused, Pravindra Singh (37), first attempted to hang his wife Sonia from a ceiling hook. When she survived, he smothered her with a pillow. He then took help from his elder brother Vinod Kumar (40), alias Ravindra, and their uncle Brahmpal Singh (46) to transport the body to Muzaffarnagar. There, they concealed it in a mound of cow dung and set it on fire.
How the Case Came to Light
Muradnagar ACP Bhaskar Verma said the case came to light on June 1, when Sonia's brother Sandeep Kumar visited his niece Mahi and asked about his missing sister. The 12-year-old told him that her father had killed her mother. Sonia's in-laws had claimed that the woman had left after a fight and not returned. Sandeep met Mahi again on June 5, and after she repeated the account, he went to Muradnagar police station and filed a complaint alleging Sonia was kidnapped and that Pravindra's mother Bedo Devi was intimidating the child. A case was registered under BNS sections 140(1) (kidnapping) and 351(3) (criminal intimidation).
Investigation and Arrests
The investigation led cops to Pravindra and eventually to Vinod and Brahmpal. Charges under BNS sections 103(1) (murder), 238 (destruction of evidence), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) were added after police recovered skeletal remains from Muzaffarnagar.
Motive and Confession
During interrogation, Pravindra alleged that his wife was short-tempered and had earlier filed a dowry case against him from her parental home in Muzaffarnagar before a settlement was reached and she returned. About nine to 10 months before the killing, the couple and their two kids relocated to Muradnagar to live in Vinod's house. Tensions, Pravindra said, resurfaced soon after.
On January 29, Pravindra and Vinod allegedly took Sonia to an upper-floor room, looped a noose around her neck, and suspended her from a fan hook, police said. Believing her dead, they brought her down but found she was still breathing. Pravindra then pressed a pillow over her face until she died. The brothers then contacted Brahmpal, who told them to wrap the body in bedding and hire a vehicle to Muzaffarnagar.
Disposal of the Body
According to cops, the three drove to the outskirts of Signalpur village, put the body inside a cow dung mound, poured kerosene over it, and set it alight. Four days later, Pravindra returned to scatter the remaining ash into a nearby pond.
