Hyderabad: Cabbie returns from Dubai, confesses to killing wife; held

SECUNDERABAD: A cabbie working in Dubai, who returned to the city on Tuesday, was arrested from a hotel in Regimental Bazaar in Secunderabad on Wednesday on the charges of killing his wife. After strangulating her in the hotel room, the 34-year-old accused, Shaik Mohd Rafi, called up the Police Control Room at 8.30 am and confessed to his crime. Police said the couple have been quarrelling since their marriage in 2017.

Rafi along with his wife checked into Hotel Lotus Grand at 3 am after convincing her of ironing out all the differences. “After a couple of hours, they entered into a heated argument. In a fit of rage, Rafi strangled his wife with her dupatta and smothered her with a pillow. This happened between 8 am and 8.30 am,” said a cop from Gopalapuram police station

After landing in the city, he went to his in-laws’ house in Lalaguda where he was involved in a serious argument with the in-laws and wife. “He left the house in a huff. Soon, he received a call from his wife for reconciliation. He refused to enter the Lalaguda house and instead asked her to come over to the hotel,” the police official said.

Within a week of his marriage, Rafi went off to Dubai. “He used to work in Dubai before marriage and promised to take her there after a couple of months. He would visit her for a couple of days once in every three to four months and go back,” said a police officer.

When Rafi asked her to stay with his parents, she refused and continued staying at her parents’ house. “Rafi would call his wife and find her phone busy. He started suspecting her fidelity. He thought she was having an extramarital affair. This often led to intense fights between them,” said Gopalapuram detective SI Madhusudhan.

After executing the murder, Rafi gave a graphic account of how he carried out plan to cops. “We have arrested him and booked him for murder,” said the SI. Rafi belongs to Gadwal.