Man strangulates wife, calls police after crime
KOCHI: A 67-year-old man strangulated his wife and then called the police early in the morning on Friday to report the matter. The incident took place at Kuthirakurkari near Palluruthy under Kannamali police station limit.
Forty-four-year-old Sherly was murdered by her husband Xavier in their Vadakeparambil House. Xavier was a fisherman and Sherly was a homemaker. The murder took place when their 19-year-old son was sleeping in another room.
“It was around 5 have we received a call at the police station from Xavier saying he murdered his wife. He said the incident took place around 2.30 am. However, since there would not be enough police officers that early in the morning, he decided to call a few hours later,” a police officer at Kannamali police station said.
Soon, the police team reached the house and found Sherly’s body. “Neither their son nor the neighbours knew about the incident. Only when we reached the house, others came to know about the murder. Xavier has been arrested. He took the responsibility and gave a statement,” the officer said.
Xavier confessed before the police that his wife received frequent phone calls late at night. There were frequent fights between the couple over this issue. Sherly, last week, started going for household work and Xavier warned her not to do so. “Xavier claimed he saw Sherly speaking to someone on the phone at around 2 am. After a verbal duel, an enraged Xavier strangled Sherly with a shawl. He has no remorse about his action and is ready to face the consequences,” said the officer.
After the inquest, the body was taken to Ernakulam Medical College at Kalamassery for postmortem. “We cannot blindly believe the version of Xavier. The probe would be carried out on the basis of the postmortem report. We would approach the court seeking his custody later for further investigation,” the police officer said.