Expert swimmer beats husband's murder trap

Ambika Kumari battled through the night against swirling waters and a stroke of luck gave her a fresh lease of life. Residents of Rasulpur village in Samastipur district found her unconscious on the river bank, 60 km downstream north of Patna, on Thursday morning. Mukesh K Mishra reports.

A man who hid his marriage from most of his family allegedly pushed his wife off a bridge into the Ganga in Bihar to get rid of her, but did not factor in her swimming ability.

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Ambika Kumari, 25, battled through the night against swirling waters and a stroke of luck gave her a fresh lease of life.

Residents of Rasulpur village under Patori police station in Samastipur district found her unconscious on the river bank, 60 km downstream north of Patna, on Thursday morning.

Police are trying to ascertain the bridge near the state capital from which Kumari's husband Adarsh Kumar, 30, accompanied by a relative and a friend, pushed her off around 8pm on Wednesday after taking her for a drive.

Kumari told the police she swam for about 12 hours in search of a bank. "For large stretches, I was pushed middle stream due to the force of water and then became unconscious." Luckily, she was washed ashore.

"The woman is not able to specify the bridge. The two probable spots are the Gandak Bridge and the Mahatma Gandhi Setu," said a police source on Friday.

Kumari said she arrived in Patna with her husband on September 5 from Amritsar, where they fell in love while working in a call centre.

"We married one-and-a-half years ago in Amritsar. But Adarsh told only his mother about our marriage," she said. In Patna, she was living with her husband and mother-in-law.