Just over a month into marriage, Pune woman kills husband at farm and blames robbers

Ankita Bodake (24) told police that Rajendra Kalbhor had harassed her a lot and that he doubted her character.

This is a combination photo of deceased Suraj Rajendra Kalbhor (29) (L) and his wife Ankita Bodake (24) (R) accused of murdering him. (Express photos)

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The Pimpri-Chinchwad police have arrested a 24-year-old woman for allegedly hacking her husband to death after taking him to her family’s farm. She is also alleged to have tried to mislead police by saying that he was killed by unidentified masked robbers.

Police said Monday that it was in April that Suraj Rajendra Kalbhor (29), an Akurdi resident who worked as a data operator at a Pimpri-Chinchwad school, married Ankita Bodake (24), of Gahunje. The couple went to the Prati Shirdi temple in Shirgaon on Pune’s outskirts and later to the farm, 1.5 km away, on Sunday on her insistence.

‘Masked robbers assaulted us’

Around 3 pm, Ankita called her father to say she and her husband had been attacked by masked men. “She told her father that she and Suraj had been assaulted by three persons who suddenly appeared on the farm. She said she was roughed up but Suraj was severely attacked with koytas. She asked them to rush to the farm,”Assistant Police Inspector NA Patil told The Indian Express.

Soon after Anita’s father and other villagers reached the spot. On being informed, the Talegaon police reached the farm, where they saw that Suraj’s body had been badly injured with a sharp weapon in the neck and on the head.

Ankita told police that after reaching the farm, she had excused herself to answer nature’s call when she heard shouting and cries. On reaching the spot where Suraj was sitting, she told police, she found three men assaulting him with koytas and she was also roughed up when she tried to intervene. The trio left after robbing them, she further claimed.

Ankita also told police that she could not see the attackers’ faces as they were wearing masks.

‘He was harassing me, doubting my character’

Inspector Satyavan Mane said the needle of suspicion slowly started to turn towards Ankita because of her evasive and contradictory statements, demeanour and response to the whole episode.

“We decided to ask some pressing questions and soon she started to tell her what exactly happened,” he said.

Ankita told police that in the one and a half month of her marriage, Suraj had harassed her a lot and that he doubted her character. She confessed that she had taken Suraj to the temple and then to the farm with an intention to kill him, according to police.

“She carried a knife when the couple left for Shirgaon in the morning. She strategically took him to the farm as she was aware that there would be no one there. Once there, she excused herself on the pretext of going to urinate. When Suraj was busy browsing his phone, she returned and assaulted him with the knife. Later, she used a pickaxe and stones that were lying there to finish him off. She then called up her father,” said Mane.

Police said they were investigating her motives and would find out if she had any accomplices. “We will produce her before a judicial magistrate and get her custody so that the investigation can progress,” said API Patil.