A 48-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly killing his wife in Maharashtra's Beed district and attempting to pass it off as a natural death, police said on Saturday.
The couple had been working as farm labourers at Hatola in Ambajogai tehsil.
Accused Suresh Sherphule allegedly struck victim Sheelabai Sherphule (45) on the head with a wooden stick, apparently during a heated argument on Friday, killing her at the scene, an official said.
Claiming that his wife had died of a cardiac arrest, Suresh arranged a private vehicle and took the body to his native village, Alura, in the Degloor tehsil of Nanded district, the official said.
The plot began to unravel when the Beed police received a tip-off regarding the suspicious nature of Sheelabai's death. They then alerted their counterparts in Nanded.
Just when Suresh's family was preparing for the woman's last rites, sub-inspector Gopal Suryavanshi from Degloor police station reached Alura. Police found injuries on the victim's head which did not align with a natural death, said Suryavanshi.
The funeral was halted, and police took Suresh into custody for allegedly killing his wife, he said. “The body was later handed over to the family after post-mortem,” added the official. PTI COR NR
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