THANE: The Thane district court has sentenced a 27-year-old man to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife. Testimony of the couple's daughter, who had witnessed the crime, proved crucial for the prosecution's case against Rajkumar Tukaram Chavan, the accused. Judge P P Jadhav also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. Additional Public Prosecutor Vinit Kulkarni said that Chavan, a driver, had married the victim Rupali in 2008.
The couple often quarrelled. Rupali had lodged a complaint against Chavan with the police and also filed a divorce petition which was pending before the family court. On November 1, 2014 Chavan and Rupali quarrelled as she allegedly refused to serve him food when he returned from work. A little after midnight, he strangled her to death and walked into the nearby Kapurbawadi police station and confessed to his act.
The judge, while upholding the prosecution's case, relied on the testimony of the couple's daughter along with the circumstantial evidence.