Police at the murder site in Pandesara on Wednesday

SURAT: A 35-year-old man was killed by his wife and her paramour during early hours on Wednesday in Vadod of Pandesara. The paramour was the deceased cooking gas and vegetable vendor’s employee and was staying in the neighbouring house. The man slit the victim’s throat to ensure that he is dead after smashing his head with a hammer while the wife held the deceased’s hands.

The murder was carried out by the mother in front of her four minor children after instructing them to lie to the police. However, the kids revealed the murder story to the cops.

Police booked Santosh Prajapati, a labourer, and Sudha Sonkar for allegedly killing her husband, 35-year-old Premchand. Sudha is arrested while Santosh is on the run. She was nabbed from her home.

Police investigation revealed that Premchand, who was a vegetable vendor cum cylinder delivery man , had employed Santosh a few months ago for petty jobs. Santosh, who lived in neighbouring house, soon developed illicit relation with his his employer’s wife.

Premchand came to know about the affair which led to frequent fights between the couple. Santosh and Sudha planned to kill Premchand and at around 1 am on Wednesday Sudha opened the door letting in Santosh who first strangled Premchand using a rope while Sudha held his hands. Later Sanstosh slit the throat with a knife besides dealing several blows on the head with a hammer. The murder was executed in presence of Premchand and Sudha’s four children, aged 11, 8, 5 and 2 years, respectively.

Later, Sudha locked her house from outside and went to Santosh’s home with the children. They spent the night in the house and Santosh left his house early in the morning.

Later Sudha came to her home and informed neighbours to help open her door. “She initially informed neighbours and police that robbers have killed her husband and also told her kids to repeat her story. But repeated questioning revealed the truth,” said a police officer at Pandesara police station.

