A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly has sentenced a 45-year-old man to life imprisonment for brutally murdering his mentally challenged wife by tying her to a cot and repeatedly electrocuting her, rejecting his claim that she had died accidentally after coming in contact with a live wire.
Additional district government counsel Harendra Singh Rathore said Additional Sessions Judge Avinash Kumar Singh on Wednesday convicted Vinod Kumar, 45, for killing his wife, Satyavati, in Chaina village of Bareilly district. The court also imposed a fine of ₹15,000 on the convict, PTI reported.
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Vinod was ‘frustrated’ with his wife: Prosecution
According to the prosecution, Vinod was allegedly frustrated with Satyavati’s mental illness and frequently assaulted her.
Rathore said the prosecution examined nine witnesses during the trial to establish the charges against him.
Court records showed that on the night of May 1-2, 2022, when Satyavati was asleep, the accused tied her hands and legs to a cot with ropes before connecting an aluminium cable to an electric board and repeatedly administering electric shocks to her.
"She writhed in pain, but the accused continued to electrocute her until she died," the prosecution said.
{{/usCountry}}"She writhed in pain, but the accused continued to electrocute her until she died," the prosecution said.
{{/usCountry}}The court observed that the murder was carried out in an inhuman manner.
After the crime, Vinod allegedly threw the rope and cable used in the murder onto the roof and left for work at a brick kiln around 2 am in an attempt to create a false alibi.
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Husband claimed wife accidentally died by suicide
He later tried to mislead the police and the victim’s family by claiming that Satyavati, whose mental condition was unstable, had accidentally died by suicide after grabbing a live electric wire.
However, the victim’s brother, Sanjeev, a resident of Shahjahanpur, suspected foul play and lodged an FIR under Sections 498A (husband subjecting wife to cruelty) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code at Nawabganj police station.
During the trial, the prosecution relied on the post-mortem report prepared by Dr Faraz Anwar, who stated that multiple electrocution marks found on different parts of the victim’s body could not have been self-inflicted.
Police also recovered the rope and electric wire allegedly used in the crime based on the accused’s identification, officials said.