Vasai man strangles wife, keeps body in fridge to portray it as natural death

After committing the murder, the accused kept his wife’s body in a refrigerator for more than 12 hours while he tried to obtain the death certificate

MUMBAI: The Pelhar police in Palghar district have arrested a 24-year-old man from Vasai for allegedly strangulating his wife with her dupatta and trying to obtain a death certificate from local doctors declaring her death as natural.

Man strangles wife, keeps body in fridge and tries to portray it as natural death

According to the police, after committing the murder, the accused kept his wife’s body in a refrigerator for more than 12 hours while he tried to obtain the death certificate.

The accused, Ismail Abdul Qayum Chaudhary, told the police he killed his wife, Khursheeda Khatoon Chaudhary, 24, because he caught her with another man in their house, officials said.

Ismail and Khursheeda got married in June and lived in Vasai’s Kaman locality. Ismail told the police that on Wednesday, to confirm his suspicions that Khursheeda was cheating on him, he went home for lunch from his office unannounced. He kept knocking on the door for a long time before his wife eventually opened it. As he entered, he noticed another man was present in the house, according to his statement.

Ismail said he then questioned Khursheeda about the man, who had fled by then, but she tried to mislead him. A fight soon broke out between the couple, following which Ismail strangled Khursheeda to death with a dupatta, the police said.

The accused wanted to bury the body after the murder, the police added. But for this, he needed a death certificate. He approached a few doctors in the locality, but they refused to give him a death certificate. He then allegedly contacted his brother who lived in Vasai’s Navjeevan locality and informed him about the incident.

Ismail and his brother then stuffed the body in a refrigerator and started searching for doctors in other areas who could give them a death certificate. However, during this time, residents got wind of what Ismail was trying to do and informed the Pelhar police. The police then went to his house and discovered Khursheeda’s body in the fridge, following which Ismail was arrested.

“Khursheeda’s body had been sent for post-mortem, while Ismail’s confession was recorded,” said senior police inspector Jitendra Vankoti from the Pelhar Police Station. “We are now trying to ascertain the sequence of events leading to her death.”