RAIPUR: A decaying body discovered from a pile of leaves in a forest of Chhattisgarh’s Jashpur district has blown the lid off a disturbing pattern of domestic abuse by a local resident.
Dhula Ram, a resident of Jashpur’s Sulesa village who had been married nine times before, has been arrested for battering his tenth wife to death on suspicion of theft and dumping her body in the forest to cover up the crime.
The incident came to light after locals noticed the stench of the decomposed body emanating from the bushes and alerted the cops about it. The police recovered the body from the spot.
Ram was taken into custody and produced in a court following a preliminary investigation and later sent to jail.
An official privy to the matter shared, “The incident occurred in the Pandrapath village of Bagicha. Ram suspected his wife of stealing rice, cooking oil and a sari from a wedding they had recently attended. He confronted his wife about it. As the argument escalated, he killed her in a fit of rage. To conceal his crime, he dumped her body in a pile of dry leaves and bushes.”
The cops investigating the matter were astonished to learn that all nine women who had married him in the last 10 years had abandoned him over his abusive behaviour.
The Jashpur police are yet to ascertain if all these failed relationships over the past one decade were indeed “love marriages” as claimed or just live-in partnerships.
Interestingly, not a single one of his past nine marriages lasted more than six months. His abusive behaviour and pattern of domestic violence are being blamed for his failed and short-lived marriages. His history of cruelty and marital woes has left the cops wondering if there was any “love” in any of those relationships.
The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination. Further probe is under way, and more details in the case are awaited.