E-Paper
Husband, his father held for killing woman in Lakhimpur
A husband and his father allegedly murdered his 38-year-old wife, Vandana Awasthi, in Lakhimpur city over a fortnight back and secretly performed her cremation at Garh Mukteshwar, about 350 km from the city
A husband and his father allegedly murdered his 38-year-old wife, Vandana Awasthi, in Lakhimpur city over a fortnight back and secretly performed her cremation at Garh Mukteshwar, about 350 km from the city.
Later, the duo lodged a complaint of the disappearance of the woman from the house.
However, the city kotwali police, while investigating the case of mysterious disappearance, exposed the nefarious plot and arrested the husband, Ashutosh Awasthi and his father Gauri Shankat, on charges of murder.
According to the police, Vandana and Ashutosh were qualified physicians holding BAMS degrees and running a nursing home Gauri Hospital on Sitapur Road near Bajpayee village.
Additional superintendent of police (ASP) Arun Kumar Singh saod on Tuesday that on the complaint of Shiv Raj Shukla, the father of the deceased and resident of Gonda city, the kotwali police lodged a case of 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidences) and 498A (subjecting a woman to cruelty), implicating Ashutosh, his father, his mother, Vimlesh Aawsthi, and his sister Nisha Awasthi.
Singh said, “On Tuesday, investigating officer inspector Ashok Kumar arrested accused Ashutosh and his father from Rajapur crossing of the city.”
“During interrogation, Ashutosh confessed to have pushed Vandana on Nov 26, 2022 following a dispute with her, causing serious head injuries, leading to her death,” Singh said.
He further said that “the accused confessed that after the death of Vandana, along with Gauri Shankar, he put the body into an iron box and shifted it to the basement of their hospital where they transferred the body again to an ambulance and carried it to Garh Mukteshwar for last rites on Nov 27.”
ASP Singh said the paperwork done by the accused at Garh Mukteshwar for last rites and the photographs taken there, statements of the ambulance driver and confession of the accused established the murder of the deceased.
He added that the investigators had recovered the iron box used to carry the body from their house to Gauri Hospital.
ASP said that during interrogation, Ashutosh told the police that his marital relations with his wife had been strained since March 2018 when he had a serious back injury following a fall from the roof of his house. These relations were further strained after the birth of their children - Krishna and Aradhya- in 2020 through a test tube.
