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Ludhiana: Bizman ‘kills’ wife, gives it robbery colour, arrested
Police found his story fabricated as accused Gaurav Kumar changed statements; victim strangled on highway near Khanna
A sweetmeat shop owner of Shimlapuri strangled his wife to death in a car on the national highway near Gaggar Majra village of Khanna on Tuesday. The accused smashed her head against the dashboard of the car to give it the shape of killing during highway robbery. The Khanna police solved the case with the arrest of the accused.
The accused has been identified as Gaurav Kumar. The accused had on Tuesday approached the police, stating that he along with his wife Reena and five-year-old son was going to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh to attend a function. He claimed that he had a flat tyre near Gaggar Majra village so he went looking for a mechanic when highway robbers murdered her and fled after taking away her handbag.
He also claimed that he rushed his wife to a nearby hospital where doctors declared her dead, following which he took the body back to his house in Shimlapuri.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP, Khanna) Amritpal Singh Bhatti said that on being informed, the police brought the body from his home and sent it to the civil hospital for a postmortem examination. “The police found the matter fishy. They started questioning Gaurav Kumar, who was changing his statement frequently. When posed harshly, the accused confessed his crime,” said the DSP.
“The police found that Gaurav stopped his car near Gaggar Majra village on the highway and used the pretext of buying snacks to lure his son out of the vehicle. He then strangled his wife and struck her head against the dashboard twice, leaving her lifeless,” the DSP said.
“To mislead the police, Gaurav fabricated the robbery story, claiming that unidentified miscreants attacked them, stole his wife’s purse and left her unconscious,” he added.
The DSP revealed that Gaurav’s statements were inconsistent, raising suspicions. When questioned separately, Gaurav’s son disclosed that his father had promised to buy him snacks but failed to do so. The claim of a punctured tyre was also proven false as the car had been driven back to Shimlapuri without any repair.
Upon further interrogation, Gaurav confessed to the crime. He admitted to killing his wife during an argument, citing ongoing domestic discord as the motive. The couple frequently fought, and Reena, who suffered from epilepsy and poor health following a recent miscarriage, was often subjected to violence.
The Khanna police arrested Gaurav Kumar and registered a case against him for murder following the complaint of Pritam Singh, father of Reena.
