Panvel City police arrested a 49-year-old man for killing his 30-year-old wife and later consuming poison, on Thursday.
While the incident happened on February 24 , Ganpat Lakshman Pawar was arrested on Thursday after he got discharged from the hospital.
Mr. Pawar has two sons — 20 and 22 years old — from his first marriage, and a five-year-old son from his marriage to the victim, Babita. Babita had a daughter from her first marriage, who lives at her hometown in Solapur.
“The accused’s first wife committed suicide a few years ago due to depression after their daughter died of an illness. Babita left her first husband over differences,” police inspector Vijay Tayade from Panvel City police station said.
Mr. Pawar was having issues with Babita for the last three years, the police said. “According to [Mr. Pawar], [Babita] did not take care of his children and kept talking over the phone for hours. He suspected that she was speaking to her first husband. On the morning of February 24, while she was asleep, he killed her with a knife. There were three stab marks on her stomach and chest and one on her back,” Mr. Tayade said.
While the accused’s 22-year-old son is married and lives in Mankhurd, his 20-year-old son goes to college in the morning, works at a mall in the evening, and sleeps at a cousin’s house nearby. He would come home only in the morning to cook for himself and leave.
After killing Babita, Mr. Pawar consumed rat poison and went to the police station and said that his wife had killed herself. “When we reached the spot, we learned it was a murder and started interrogating Mr. Pawar. He started vommitting and said he had consumed poison. We admitted him to a hospital and arrested him on Thursday,” Mr. Tayade said.
Mr. Pawar, who worked as driver at a container yard, was produced before the court on Friday and has been remanded to police custody till March 10.
