In a shocking case from Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, a woman and her lover are accused of conspiring to murder her husband, staging it as a robbery, leading to their arrest and a continuing police investigation.
Accused Ruby had tried to pass off the murder, committed in an area under the jurisdiction of the Ater police station, as robbery, an official said.
The accused woman and her lover Vishal Vimal (21) are in custody, while another accused, Rajesh Kushwah, who assisted in the murder, is absconding, Superintendent of Police (SP) Asit Yadav told reporters.
On April 8, police were informed that unidentified robbers had shot dead one Nilesh Jatav (27) in front of his wife Ruby and their child while he was riding a motorcycle.
Ruby told the police that they were returning from village Jamna to Kharika when her bag fell on the Ridoli-Kharika road.
Yadav said she claimed that as her husband stopped the motorcycle and she went to pick up the bag, two unidentified men arrived from behind, shot her husband and fled.
Police launched a probe after registering a murder case against unknown persons.
"During the investigation, the wife's statements appeared suspicious. Police then questioned her using psychological methods, which led to the case being solved," the SP said.
He said Ruby had been in a relationship with Vimal, a relative, for nearly seven years, and they remained in constant contact through WhatsApp calls and chats.
The woman felt her husband had become an obstacle in their relationship, the official said.
As per the plan, the woman deliberately dropped her bag at a predetermined spot while travelling with her husband on the motorcycle and asked him to stop. When Jatav stopped the two-wheeler, Vimal and his associate allegedly shot him dead.
The official said police have seized a 12-bore country-made pistol, empty cartridges, a motorcycle without a registration number and mobile phones from the arrested accused.
He added that Rajesh Kushwah, who assisted in the crime, is still absconding and efforts were on to trace him.
In a similar recent case in Dhar district, a woman recently allegedly conspired with her lover and hired a contract killer to eliminate her husband. She also had initially tried to project the incident as robbery before confessing during questioning.