In another chilling incident, a 40-year-old jobless man in Maharashtra's Palghar allegedly killed his wife, hid her body in a bed, and sold off all household articles before trying to flee by train, police said on Wednesday.
However, accused Hardik Raju Shah but was nabbed 650 km away in Madhya Pradesh, a police official said. According to police, Shah used to work in a call centre but was unemployed since the pandemic lockdown for many months, and his wife Megha Dhansingh Thorvi, 37, was working as a nurse to support the family.
The duo had met through a social media site three years ago, got married in August 2022 and shifted to a rented flat in Sitasadan Apartments in Tulinj area of Nalla Sopara town in Palghar district for the past six months.
Shailendra Nagarkar, from the Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar Police Commissionerate said that after they got married last year, the couple fought almost daily as Shah did not get any work, leaving the entire burden of household expenses on his wife.
After one such bitter domestic brawl on February 11, Shah - who is the son of a Mumbai diamantaire - allegedly assaulted and killed her in a fit of anger, dumped her body inside the bed, and planned his escape.
In order to collect some money, Shah first sold off all household articles to people in the neighbourhood, then lit lot of incense sticks to ward off the decomposing body's stench emanating from the bed.
On Monday, he packed his bags, locked up the flat, caught a suburban local to Mumbai Central and then a long-distance train, ostensibly to go to Madhya Pradesh or Gujarat.
Using tech-intel and his mobile location, the MBVV police zeroed in on him in the train and alerted the Railway Police which accosted and nabbed him in Nagda town of MP on Tuesday.
Based on the complaints from the neighbours, the police registered the murder case on Monday shortly before midnight and caught Shah the next morning.
Earlier, Shah's father used to support the couple by giving them Rs 20,000 each month, but after he and his daughter-in-law had a spat a few months ago, he abruptly stopped helping them financially.
Meanwhile, a MBVV team was sent to bring him to Palghar for further investigations, said Nagarkar.