Mumbra man kills estranged wife with a hammer, hurts two others

Vijay Mishra, also known as Samir Shaikh, was arrested for allegedly killing his estranged wife with a hammer and injuring his daughter and mother-in-law in Thane, India. The couple had been living separately for three years due to family disputes.

Thane: Mumbra police station on Friday arrested Vijay Mishra aka Samir Shaikh, a resident of Kalher near Bhiwandi, for allegedly killing his 30-year-old estranged wife, Zarin Ansari, with a hammer and injuring his daughter and mother-in-law.

Murder victim Zarine Ansari (Praful Gangurde/HT PHOTO)

The 35-year-old worked at construction sites and had adopted Islam when he married Ansari 14 years ago. Following family disputes and their internal differences, they had been living separately for the last three years. Ansari lived in Ambedkar Nagar with her mother, brother and two children when Shaikh visited them at around 1pm on Friday and headed straight to his wife’s room upstairs.

According to the FIR, Shaikh brought the wife downstairs and locked the door with his wife, the daughter and the mother inside. Having been angry at his wife for a long period for living separately and doubting her intentions, Shaikh took out a hammer from his bag and hit her on the head, chest, hands, nose and forehead.

The mother and the elder daughter (10) tried to save Ansari but Shaikh attacked them on the head too. “We heard the screams and rushed to their house to check what had happened. The husband was known to create chaos at his wife’s place regularly. Following the chaos, the younger son managed to enter the room. After some scuffle between the mother-in-law, daughter, son and the husband, they managed to pull the hammer from his hand. ,” said a witness.

“We were at an immersion spot 100m from this place when we got to know about the incident. We rushed to the house and saw that Shaikh had taped some wire to make it look like a bomb and warned the neighbours against helping the family,” said N.B Kolhatkar, senior police inspector, Mumbra Police Station.

The victims were rushed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa. While Ansari was declared dead, the mother and the daughter are being treated.

“His wife had previously complained about him hitting her,” added Kolhatkar. The police have arrested Shaikh under Section 302 (punishment for murder) and Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and have further informed that the police suspects Shaikh to have past criminal record and that investigation in similar regard is on-going.