Army jawan arrested for murdering wife, daughter in Rajasthan

An army man was arrested for allegedly killing his wife and daughter while they were asleep and trying to pass it off as an accident, the police said on Tuesday.

Ram Prasad, the accused, allegedly carried out the act early on Sunday morning, they said, adding the arrest was made after the post-mortem report found death by strangulation and burns. 

DCP (East) Amrita Duhan said that the postmortem was conducted on Tuesday after the family members arrived.

"The report stated that both mother and daughter were first strangulated and then burnt using petrol," Duhan said.

On the basis of the report, police arrested Ram Prasad and interrogated him, who admitted that he killed his wife Rukmeena (25) and daughter Ridhima (2), the officer said.

Sikkim native Ram Prasad had married Rukmeena, who hails from Nepal, in January 2020.

He has been posted in Jodhpur since August 2020. Duhan said that the two would often have quarrels.

"So he wanted to get rid of his wife and hatched the plan to kill her. He also decided to kill his infant daughter in order to get rid of her responsibility," Duhan said.

He allegedly first strangled his wife and then his daughter when they were sleeping in their bed at around 4 am and then poured petrol and burnt them to eliminate the evidence, the officer said.

After that, he ran out of the house claiming his wife and child were burnt in a fire caused by a short circuit in the cooler and that he tried to save them, Duhan said.

The police also said that Ram Prasad had been promoted to the post of 'Clerk' from 'Naik' and was about to set off for Bengaluru for training on Monday.

The police and some army officials had suspected Ram Prasad since the beginning based on circumstantial evidence.

The police had already filed a case under Section 302 of IPC against Ram Prasad on the complaint by the subedar of his unit.