Body pulled off pyre in Faridabad after cops suspect foul play in woman's death

The husband had rushed his wife’s body to for cremation, accompanied by only a handful of people, and was preparing to light the pyre when the police arrived.

Police in Faridabad pulled the body of a woman off the funeral pyre on Tuesday evening after her husband allegedly tried to cremate her in haste, raising suspicions of foul play.

Investigators said they rushed to preserve the body for an autopsy after they received a tip-off from the woman’s family. (PTI File Photo/representational)

Investigators said they rushed to preserve the body for an autopsy after they received a tip-off from the woman’s family.

The deceased, identified as 27-year-old Gunja Devi from Vaishali district, Bihar, had been living in Ballabgarh with her husband, Deepak Kumar, 30, an employee at a private firm. The couple married four years ago.

According to investigators, who asked not to be identified, Kumar had rushed his wife’s body to the cremation ground, accompanied by only a handful of people, and was preparing to light the pyre when a police team arrived and halted the last rites and seized the body for autopsy.

“There were visible injury marks on the woman’s neck which could suggest either strangulation or suicide,” said Yashpal Yadav, public relations officer of Faridabad police. “He failed to give any convincing reply for his decision to cremate the body. He first cited the cause of death as a cardiac arrest, but failed to tell us why he never rushed her to a hospital. He later changed his version to suicide.”

“The death is clearly suspicious,” Yadav said. “The body was sent for a post-mortem conducted by a medical board on Wednesday. However, the cause of death is certainly not natural.”