Nagpur man held for wife's death after post-mortem contradicts his claim of a fall
Police arrested Roshan Kishor Shahakar, 42, on Friday after the post-mortem found his wife Laxmi died of internal injuries, not a fall as he had claimed.
A post-mortem report has raised suspicion that the death of a woman in Kamgar Nagar, Nagpur, was made to look like an accident. Police arrested her husband on Friday. The deceased was Laxmi Roshan Shahakar, 33, who lived in the New MHADA Colony in Kamgar Nagar.
According to police, her husband Roshan Kishor Shahakar, 42, is accused of repeatedly hitting Laxmi during a quarrel on Thursday night. The incident took place at their home in the Kapil Nagar police station area. Roshan is said to have suspected that Laxmi was involved with someone else, and the couple often quarrelled over this.
Police said Laxmi returned home around 8.30 pm on Thursday after work at a clothes shop. The quarrel flared up again soon after. Police allege that Roshan struck Laxmi several hard slaps on the head. Laxmi suffered internal injuries, fell and lost consciousness.
Roshan then took her to Mayo Hospital, where doctors examined her and declared her dead. He is alleged not to have told the hospital staff about the assault. He said Laxmi had fallen on the stairs at home and died of a head injury. He is said to have repeated the same account when speaking to police, in an attempt to pass off the death as an accident.
Police initially took it to be a case of a fall. However, the post-mortem report said Laxmi died of internal injuries, and investigators then questioned the circumstances of her death. Police took Roshan in for questioning and interrogated him at length. Police allege that he broke down during questioning and confessed to hitting Laxmi during the quarrel. He was then arrested.
Police said Roshan also has a criminal record. He returned home in July after completing a jail sentence in a 2006 murder case registered at Pachpaoli police station. He is alleged to have married Laxmi about eight years ago, while out on parole in that same case. Laxmi was his brother's sister-in-law.
After his release from jail, Roshan was reported to have started working as an agent at the Regional Transport Office (RTO), while Laxmi worked at a clothes shop. Police are now trying to establish what happened before Laxmi's death. They are also investigating Roshan's alleged attempt to mislead investigators by presenting the incident as an accident.
