Man throttles wife to death at Guruwar Peth residence

Pune, March 29: The Khadak police on Wednesday arrested a 35-year-old man for killing his wife on Wednesday morning.

The man, Vikram alias Vicki Malhari Rasale, a resident of Excel Apartments in Guruwar Peth, allegedly throttled his wife Swati alias Rani (27) to death. The police also found several bite marks on Swati's body.

Assistant commissioner of police Ranjit Dhure told TOI, "We suspect Vikram may have hit Swati's head against the wall. A portion of the bed under her head was soaked in blood. There were blood marks on the wall of the bedroom too." He added that the police were waiting for the post mortem report.

Vikram works as a milk supplier. His father is a retired police officer and his brother a police naik with the Pune police.

Vikram, his wife, their five-month-old daughter and parents lived together in the flat. Vikram and Swati had been married in 2010. In October 2011, they had twins but the baby boy died from an ailment. "His family told the police that since then, Vikram had been disturbed. However, he had never been violent," Dhure said.

For the last week or so, Vikram had been convinced that someone had done black magic on him and was trying to kill him. He would not leave the house on his own. Dhure said that on Tuesday night Vikram told his brother Sanjay not to leave him as someone would kill him. Seeing Vikram's condition, his parents called their son-in-law Hanmant Shinde to talk with him. Sanjay Rasale left the house after Shinde arrived. "Vikram then took Shinde and Swati into the bedroom of the flat and locked it from inside," Dhure said.

Dhure said that they stayed awake all night as Vikram was still afraid that he would be killed. "Around 7 am on Wednesday, Shinde managed to get out of the bedroom as he had to go to work. Vikram however, did not come out and did not allow Swati to come out either," Dhure said.

Vikram's parents tried to talk to the couple but with only Vikrant answering, they called up Sanjay as well as Swati's parents. "All of them tried to convince Vikram to come out of the room but he did not open the door," said senior police inspector Rajendra Kadam of the Khadak police station.

Kadam said that the family members then informed the police. A police team reached the flat and broke open the door. "When we entered the room, we found Swati unconscious and Vikram sitting near her," Kadam said.

A doctor was called and he declared Swati dead. "There were bites on her body. Vikram had bitten her on her left hand, her left ear, on her chin and on the stomach," Kadam said.

Vikram was arrested under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for murder. "Vikram told us that he had throttled his wife. We are investigating further," Kadam added.