Cuffe Parade resident gets life term for killing wife

The sessions court has sentenced a 27-year-old Cuffe Parade resident to life imprisonment for strangulating his wife to death. The complaint was registered by the mother of the woman, who alleged that the convict, Vitthal Rathod, killed her daughter Renuka on February 21, 2021.

MUMBAI: The sessions court has sentenced a 27-year-old Cuffe Parade resident to life imprisonment for strangulating his wife to death. The complaint was registered by the mother of the woman, who alleged that the convict, Vitthal Rathod, killed her daughter Renuka by strangulating her on February 21, 2021.

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According to the complainant, the daughter always wanted to inform her about something but could not do so due to the presence of her mother-in-law every time they met. As per the prosecution, Rathod was overly suspicious of Renuka and controlled her movements.

On the day of the incident, around 11pm, Renuka’s in-laws informed her mother that she was feeling giddy. Rathod, who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, told her that Renuka became unconscious and had to be admitted to a hospital. Later, he changed his stance and told them that Renuka strangulated herself. After noticing reddish marks on her neck, Renuka’s mother registered a complaint against the husband at Cuffe Parade Police Station.

Additional public prosecutor Geeta Sharma relied upon the evidence of the parental relatives of the victim, who had pointed out the suspicious nature of the accused and the restraints he put on her. The defence alleged that Renuka died by suicide, contending that her husband tried his best to save her life by carrying her to a hospital.

The court observed that the defence could not make out the probability of suicidal hanging. “The prosecution has established that it was the accused who has caused death of Renuka by manual strangulation or throttling in view of the medical evidence. Such act of manual strangulation or throttling is an overt act of the accused by use of force and the act by its nature itself would contemplate that it was done by the culprit with clear intention of causing death of the victim,” observed the court.

The court further said that the prosecution has established that Renuka’s death was homicidal, and that the accused had committed the offence of murder.