Malad man kills mother, wife with grinding stone

The Bangur Nagar police arrested a 33-year-old man for brutally killing his wife and mother on Friday.

The Bangur Nagar police arrested a 33-year-old man for brutally killing his wife and mother on Friday.

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Malad resident Arjun Ramaswamy Harijan, who sold idlis for a living, killed his wife – Rasu Harijan, 35 – as they did not have children even five years after getting married. According to the police, Arjun’s mother – Kunjama Harijan, 70 – was defending his wife and so he killed her as well. Harijan allegedly smashed both their heads with a grinding stone, the police said.

“Arjun and Rasu had a love marriage five years ago after Rasu’s first husband passed away. She has two daughters from her earlier marriage, but none with Arjun. He would blame her for not having children with him in spite of them being married for five years,” said senior police inspector Maruti Telang of the Bangur Nagar police station.

According to a senior officer, who did not wish to be named, Rasu told Kunjama to come home on Friday night for pacifying Arjun. “Kunjama told Arjun that he should not blame Rasu and consider her daughters as his. This further angered Arjun, who later used a grinding stone to crush his wife’s and mother’s heads as they were sleeping,” said the officer.

The officer added that Arjun was known to be a habitual drinker, however, as per the medical report, he was not found to be under the influence of alcohol on Friday when he committed the crime.

The Bangur Nagar police said the incident came to light when Arjun’s neighbours heard screams and knocked on the door. As there was no response, they called the police control room, which in turn alerted the local police station. The police then reached Arjun’s house and arrested him. He was produced before the local court on Saturday and has been remanded in police custody.