Bodies of man, ex-wife recovered from river in Patna

Patna: The bodies of a man and his ex-wife were found floating in the Dhoba River, a tributary of the Falgu River, under Bakhtiyarpur police station area of Patna district on Friday. The deceased were identified as Sanoj Kumar (35) and Reena Devi (25). The locals spotted the bodies floating in the river, around 30-40 km away from the house of her second husband Laurik Kumar, and informed the police.Rural SP Vikram Sihag said their bodies were fished out with the help of a net as the river was overflowing. “The bodies were sent to Bar sub-divisional hospital for post-mortem. The cause and circumstances of the death will be known once the medical report comes. The woman’s second husband, Laurik, has been detained, and the police are interrogating him. An SIT has been formed, and the case is being investigated from different angles,” he said.“The bodies appeared to be around 3-4 days old. However, Reena’s second husband Laurik claimed that his wife was dragged out of the house by Sanoj on Thursday. Laurik, a resident of Laxmanpur village, had also lodged a complaint on Sept 11, stating that his wife Reena was kidnapped by her first husband, Sanoj, from his house on Thursday morning. Prima facie, it appears that both were killed by Laurik. The police also suspect that the victims might have died by suicide by jumping into the river,” the SP told this newspaper on Saturday.

Sihag said Reena was married to Sanoj, a resident of Sisri village, five years ago. “About two months back, she returned to her maternal home after separating from Sanoj and married Laurik,” he said. However, Sanoj's brother, Manoj Singh, alleged that Laurik committed this crime. “On Thursday, villagers from Laxmanpur came to our house and started dragging me and my wife away, accusing us of kidnapping the woman. They were asking about the whereabouts of Reena,” he said.