Till debt do us apart: Wife strangles husband with help of family after marriage goes sour over financial disputes

A man in Uttar Pradesh was allegedly strangled to death by his wife while her parents and brother held him down. After the gruesome crime, the woman and her family went on to hang the man's lifeless body from a window grill with a muffler to make it appear like suicide.

News agency PTI, which reported on the crime in Bareilly, said that the postmortem report found strangulation to be the cause of death and ruled out suicide.

The crime came to light after police found the body of the victim, 33-year-old Jitendra Kumar Yadav, hanging at his rented house under the Izzat Nagar police station on 26 January.

A contract employee at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Yadav was living at the house in Girija Shankar colony, Kailashpuram, with his wife Jyoti.

Although the death was initially reported as a suicide, a complaint filed by the deceased man's brother led to the registration of a case against the wife Jyoti, and three others for abetment to suicide.

Subsequently, when the postmortem report revealed that the cause of death was strangulation, the accused in the case were charged with murder.

Police then went on to arrest Jyoti and her parents Kalicharan and Chameli. Jyoti's brother Deepak, however, remains absconding and efforts are underway to trace him.

However, frequent arguments over financial matters led to growing bitterness between the couple, and eventually a tipping point.

During her interrogation, Jyoti revealed that she informed her family about a quarrel that broke out on the fateful night, following which her parents and brother reached their house. They then proceeded to hold down Yadav as Jyoti strangled her in a fit of rage.

A detailed probe into the matter is underway, PTI reported citing police.