Palghar: Man absconds after allegedly 'killing' 20-year-old wife

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The Palghar district police has launched a search for a man who allegedly strangled his 20-year-old wife, reported news agency PTI.

Accused and his wife lived in Dandipada area of Palghar tehsil, police said.

As per the complaint lodged by the victim's sister, accused suspected his wife's character which frequently led to quarrels, reported PTI.

During one such quarrel on Wednesday, he allegedly strangled his 20-year-old wife to death with a plastic packing rope and fled, police officials told PTI.

The body was sent to a government hospital for autopsy and a manhunt has been launched for the accused, officials told PTI.

Meanwhile, a 28-year-old make-up artist from Maharashtra's Palghar district, who was murdered allegedly by her live-in partner, had told her sister that she feared the man would kill her, police said quoting the FIR, reported PTI.

The 43-year-old accused man, who is married and works in the film industry, allegedly killed the make-up artist after she refused to withdraw a rape complaint which she filed against him some years back, they said.

The incident occurred between August 9 and 12 and the man, a resident of Vasai city here, was arrested on Tuesday. His wife was also arrested for alleged involvement in the crime, an official from Naigaon police station told PTI on Wednesday.

Both of them were on Tuesday produced before a local court which remanded them in police custody till September 16, he said.

The victim's body was found packed in a suitcase in a creek at Valsad in neighbouring Gujarat, an official told PTI on Tuesday.

The police in Valsad had registered an ADR (Accidental Death Report) and cremated the body as no one came forward to claim it, he said.

As per preliminary investigation, after killing the woman by drowning her, the body was packed in a suitcase before it was dumped in a creek.

The Naigaon police on Monday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the accused under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) based on a complaint by the victim's sister, reported PTI.

As per the FIR, the victim once told her sister that she feared the man would kill her.

The complainant told the police that she stayed for one month with the victim in July at Naigaon in Vasai, where the latter was residing in a housing society since April this year.

She further stated that it in 2019, the accused allegedly attacked the victim and the latter then filed a complaint with the Virar police, reported PTI.

The victim also filed a rape complaint against the accused in 2019 based on which the Valiv police here had registered a case against him, as per the FIR.

The victim's sister in her complaint further said that on August 12 this year, a make-up man informed her that the victim could not be reached as her mobile phone was switched off. There was also no update on her social media accounts, reported PTI.

On August 14, the victim's sister filed a missing person's complaint with the Naigaon police.

According to the complaint, the accused was pressuring the victim to withdraw the complaints filed against him and if she did not do so, he allegedly threatened to kill her. Hence, the victim was afraid him, according to the FIR.

The accused also once threatened the victim in front of her sister, it said.

As the victim had refused to withdraw the rape complaint, she and the accused used to have frequent quarrels, the FIR stated.

(With inputs from PTI)