Maharashtra: Parbhani man strangles wife to death, tells friend she died by suicide; held

He sought Pitale’s help to pack the body in a sack and dump it in a canal, before they boarded a bus for Mumbai

A 27-year-old Parbhani man who strangled his pregnant wife but told his friend she died by suicide was nabbed from Dahisar by the Government Railway Police (GRP) recently.

The accused, Umesh Magar, killed his wife, Puja (23), but told his friend, Ganesh Pitale, that she died by suicide. He sought Pitale’s help to pack the body in a sack and dump it in a canal, before they boarded a bus for Mumbai, stated a report in The Times of India.

“Umesh and Puja were together for four years. The accused started to suspect her fidelity and they had frequent fights. Puja was four months pregnant,” said Parbhani police deputy superintendent Rajendra Pal.

On March 5, the GRP was informed that Umesh and Pitale were probably in Borivali, based on their phone locations. Three teams searched the Borivali railway station but could not find them. Pitale’s phone location then showed him near Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).

A team rushed there to find out that a man matching Pitale’s description had boarded a tourist bus for Pune.

“We found out which bus Pitale boarded but the vehicle was moving. Our team chased it and after a while we got the driver’ number and cautioned him to slow down the vehicle but not halt or do anything that would alert Pitale about the cops on his tail,” said GRP senior inspector Bhaskar Pawar.

After Pitale was nabbed, he told officers that Umesh was hiding in Dahisar’s Vaishali Nagar slum, where his grandmother had lived long back. Another police team reached slum and Umesh was arrested. Both were handed over to Parbhani police and were booked for murder.

Umesh’s sibling consumed pesticide and killed himself on Monday. Police believe it could be linked to Umesh killing Puja.

During interrogation, Umesh told police he had strangled his wife on March 4. He then went to the market, where he met Pitale and invited him home. When Pitale spotted Puja’s body, Umesh feigned shock and said she had died by suicide. He sought his friend’s help to pack the body in a sack and dump it in a dry canal at Selu. That night, the duo boarded a bus for Mumbai. The body was found by Parbhani police the next day. “Umesh has a criminal record in Nanded and Parbhani,” added Pal.

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