UP: Senior BJP leader's wife strangulated to death

The wife of a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister was found murdered at her residence in Muzaffarnagar on Saturday.

The body of Revati Singh, 75, wife of BJP deputy leader in Uttar Pradesh assembly Hukkum Singh, was found in the bedroom of her Gandhi colony house on Saturday morning and circumstantial evidence indicate that she was murdered, Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal said.

The police said there was a ligature mark on her neck and swelling between nose and upper lip. They suspect that at least two people were involved in the murder.

"It seems that her mouth was pressed with a pillow and later she was strangulated with her scarf," the ADG told the media in Lucknow.

The ADG said that a pillow and scarf were recovered from the bedroom and ruled out the possibility of murder for loot as all the belonging of Revati including a gold chain, diamond earrings, bangles and her mobile phone were recovered from the room.

Singh, who is BJP MLA from Kairana, was in Lucknow at the time of the incident. The ADG said that two servants Sankar and Ajay hailing from Bihar along with Singh's grandson Anuj Singh lived with Revati.

"They used to live in the house adjacent to Singh's bungalow, which is separated by a door," Brij Lal said.

He said that Revati used to lock all the doors before going to sleep, which she opened only in the morning.

"Last night also she closed all the doors. When the connecting door did not open this morning Anuj and the servants entered the house using a ladder and found Revati dead," he said.

"There were three almirahs in the room and all of them were locked. Only one almirah was found open, but its belongings including a carbine of Hukkum's gunner and his own licenced revolver were untouched," he said.

Brij Lal said that three suitcases were kept in the open almirah.

"One empty bag was found on the floor, but prima facie it seems that it was open by using the combination lock," he said.

Brij Lal said that there is another door on the rear side of the house, which is usually locked and its keys were kept in Revati's bedroom. Though the door was closed from inside, its lock and keys were found missing.

The ADG said that forensic team from Lucknow has been rushed to the spot.