JAMMU: A policeman and his mother were arrested over alleged murder of his wife, a teacher, in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said Monday. With the two arrests, the police claimed to have solved the murder case of 36-year-old Shahnaz Akhter at Keri Gulatta village last week, they said.
Akhter's body with visible injury marks was found 100 meters from her house on August 24 and a special investigation team was constituted to probe her death. "The blind murder case was solved within a week with the arrest of the husband and the mother-in-law of the deceased," Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Mendhar, ZA Jaffri told reporters.
He said an 11-member police team zeroed in on the accused persons who allegedly carried out the murder in a well-planned manner and also tampered with the evidence to escape arrest. Officials identified the arrested husband as constable Irfan Manhas who is posted with Indian Reserve Police Battalion in Srinagar.
They said the couple, married with three daughters and a son, were having some family dispute. They said the accused had reached his house around midnight on August 24 and allegedly strangled his wife to death with the active support of his mother.
He had left the house for his place of posting after dumping the body to evade suspicion, the officials said.