Man kills wife, puts brother’s life in danger during argument

A man in Mumbai allegedly killed his wife and injured his brother during an argument over selling their house. The accused is still at large.

Mumbai: A 40-year-old man allegedly killed his wife and critically injured his brother during an argument in Malad on Friday. The accused, Drayson D’sa, remains at large, leaving behind a two-month-old baby and a house marred by violence.

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According to the Bangur Nagar police, the incident took place between 9:30am and 12:30pm on Friday. Drayson frequently quarreled with his 43-year-old brother, Damien, particularly over the decision to sell their shared residence. The altercation escalated when Drayson struck Damien on the head with a vase. In a desperate attempt to intervene, Damien’s wife, Chitra, 35, sided with her husband and faced the same violent fate, succumbing to her injuries.

Damien’s wife, Bindu told the police that their house help, Asha Wankhede, called her around 1 pm, telling her that the door was locked from the inside and there were drops of blood on the doorstep. “I rushed back home to find that my keys were not working. I smashed the glasspane of one of the windows of my bedroom and saw my husband lying unconscious on the floor in a pool of blood,” she said.

She immediately called the watchman to help break open the door. They saw Chitra in a similar condition as Damien, lying on the floor of the living room with pieces of a broken China vase around her.

“I ran to the bedroom where my husband also was bleeding profusely through a wound on the back of his head. I tried to look for Drayson but he was not in the house. Someone had called the police by then,” Bindu further said.

After the police arrived, they took the victims to the hospital where Chitra was declared dead on arrival.

The police investigation revealed that both brothers were unemployed, with Damien struggling due to kidney ailments requiring monthly dialysis. Drayson had been jobless for some time. Bindu, a marketing executive, and Chitra, employed in a call center, were the primary breadwinners.

“It seems that Drayson was a cranky person and would not get along with anyone. Neighbours told us he would often fight with his brother and his wife. In fact, he would often assault his wife. So when they heard them scream at each other on Friday morning, nobody came around to intervene. All the commotion died down after they heard shrieks from Chitra and Damien,” said an official. The latest reason for their fights was that Bindu and Damien wanted to sell the house they were living in, but Drayson was opposed to it.

The D’Sas lived on the ground floor of a bungalow jointly owned by their late father Marcus and former MLA Chandrakant Ghaosalia. Ghosalia’s family lives on the first floor of the bungalow. “I was close to the deceased mother of the boys whom I had first met forty years ago. I have seen them grow up but we are not very close anymore,” said Ghosalia. He also said that the family had recently celebrated Christmas, and everything looked very happy.

Police have booked Drayson under sections 302 (culpable homicide) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code. He is still at large, said the police.