Hubballi mason's 'lockdown suicide': Man was killed & thrown on rail tracks by wife, her lover

HUBBALLI: A 46-year-old mason from Ranebennur, who was believed to have died by suicide in May over loss of livelihood in the Covid-induced lockdown, was allegedly murdered by his wife and her lover.
The Hubballi Government Railway Police said the duo killed him and threw the body on the tracks to make it look like a suicide. The couple's teenage son was also involved.
Hubballi GRP inspector JM Kalimirchi said the 44-year-old woman and her paramour, aged 48, were arrested on Friday. The minor boy has been sent to a juvenile home.
He said probe into the death gained momentum after the postmortem report came through in July. Police said the report stated that the victim was assaulted and suffered multiple injuries before being thrown on the tracks.
Mason, wife fought over her affair with neighbour
Both accused confessed to the crime during investigations, an officer said.
The mason and his wife were residents of Gangajal tanda near Ranebennur city. He was mostly out of town for work and came home once in three or four months, police said. Over the years, the woman was befriended by a neighbour and they soon got into a relationship. The woman managed to keep the affair a secret as her husband was rarely home, but the lockdown changed the situation.
The mason, who was home due to lack of work, soon got to know of the affair and frequent fights broke out between husband and wife. She then hatched a plan with her lover. On May 10, she gave her husband money to buy liquor. She, her lover and her son carried him in an inebriated state to the outskirts of the town and beat him up, said police. He was strangled and the body thrown on the tracks to make sure he wouldn’t be identified, police said.
News of the death, however, appeared in local newspapers and it was believed that the victim had killed himself due to lack of work and money in the lockdown. Police said his wife identified the body with much hesitation after she was forced visit the morgue.