Woman held for killing hubby’s second wife in Balod

Raipur: Envied and miffed with husband giving more importance to his second wife, a village woman was arrested for brutally beating the 47-year-old co-wife to death using a wooden cot leg and a sharp-edged saw while she slept in her room in Chhattisgarh’s Balod district on Tuesday night.

Police have arrested the accused on charges of murder.The incident took place in Newarikala village. Police identified the deceased as Daya Bai Sonkar and the accused as Amrit Bai Sahu, the first wife of Chiman Lal Sahu.According to police, Chiman Lal had been living with Daya Bai for nearly five years following a relationship, and both women stayed in separate rooms of the same house. Investigators said frequent disputes between the two women over the years had created persistent tension in the household.Police alleged that after the family retired for the night, Amrit entered Daya’s room around 11 pm and repeatedly struck her on the neck with the wooden cot stick and slit her throat. She then fled to nearby fields, changed her bloodstained sari and returned home before dawn in an apparent attempt to avoid suspicion.The crime came to light around 3 am when Chiman Lal woke up and found Amrit Bai missing from the room. On checking the adjoining room, he found Daya Bai lying in a pool of blood.

Villagers alerted the police through the village kotwar.A forensic team, cyber cell personnel and local police examined the scene and recovered the alleged murder weapons. During questioning, Amrit Bai confessed to the crime, saying she was unable to cope with the constant quarrels with her co-wife. Police also claimed that preliminary investigation suggested she had been planning the murder for nearly six months and had kept the weapons aside in advance.An FIR has been registered for murder, and the accused was produced before a local court, which remanded her to judicial custody. Police said further investigation is underway.