Lawyer murder: Wife says she killed hubby to avert sex torture

KOLKATA: Anindita Paul De, the lawyer accused of killing her husband, Rajat De, also a lawyer, at their New Town residence last week, has reportedly told police that he used to sexually harass her. Last Sunday, he tried to force himself on her against medical advice when she lost her cool and murdered him.

“The woman claimed her husband used to torture her physically and mentally and that was the cause of their growing differences. During one such heated exchange on Sunday, she killed him. However, we are still verifying her statements, considering the fact that she changed her statements on several occasions in the past one week. Also, we are checking whether she had committed the crime alone or if there was someone else who may have helped her,” said an investigating officer.

On Monday, Anindita underwent two sets of medical examinations, one before the start of her interrogation at Bidhannagar Womens’ police station and the next within an hour of her questioning. Sources said, cops first took her to Bidhannagar Subdivisional Hospital for the medical examination to verify her claims regarding the scratch marks on her body and the second time when she claimed she was feeling uneasy and later wanted to meet her lawyer. The lawyer walked into the police station later in the evening to collect copies of the complaint, post-mortem report and other forwarded documents from the cops.

“Anindita was subjected to sexual torture by her husband. Two months ago, she had to undergo a surgery for a medical condition in her fallopian tube when the doctor had advised her to avoid intercourse for the next few months. But on Sunday, Rajat tried to force himself on her,” said Chandrasekhar Bag, Anindita’s lawyer.

Sleuths are also probing the involvement of her parents in the murder and if they were party in suppressing evidence.

Anindita’s lawyer claimed the couple went for shopping at Sabala Mela in Salt Lake on Saturday evening when they left the child and the dog with her parents. She had even told them that she would take him back the next afternoon after finishing some shopping on Sunday morning. “They were about to head Puri for a vacation on November 30 and that is why she went shopping. It is a sheer co-incidence that Rajat died early on Sunday and it was never a planned murder as cops are trying to prove,” said Bag.

Police said Anindita had told them that Rajat used to threaten to commit suicide during every altercation and he did that again on Sunday when she lost her cool and took the phone charger and began strangulating him.

“However, the question remains whether she had done the crime alone or if there were others to help her. We are trying to get her to name her accomplices and for a clear motive behind the murder,” said an officer.