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Briton's murder accused sent to police custody
Pawan Bharadwaj, the prime accused, was arrested on Sunday and remanded to custody late on Monday.
A Himachal Pradesh court has sent a man arrested for the alleged murder of his wife's former boyfriend, British charity worker Michael Blakey, to 10 days of police custody by a court in Dharamsala.
Pawan Bharadwaj, the prime accused, was arrested on Sunday and remanded to custody late on Monday.
The 23-year-old Briton's body was found partially buried under rocks in a cemetery near a church in Dharamsala, nearly two weeks ago. Blakey hailed from Swansea, Wales.
According to police, Bharadwaj was married to Rachel Owens, who was said to be Blakey's girlfriend earlier. They broke up after Rachel and Bharadwaj got married in July.
An email retrieved from Blakey's laptop suggests that Bharadwaj had threatened him to stay away from Rachel, said the police.
Both Blakey and Rachel worked for the same charity Tong Len, which looked after the welfare of street children. Bharadwaj is reportedly a poor and semi-literate man who did odd jobs until his marriage to Rachel.
Rumours have it that Rachel's marriage to Bharadwaj was a contract as she wanted to stay back in India and buy property in Dharamsala.
The police, however, are not ruling out the possibility of Blakey being killed by roadside robbers as his wallet and mobile phone were missing when his body was found.
