Gwalior woman killed at home on Karwa Chauth, husband taken into custody

A woman was killed at her home in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, on Thursday (29 October), the day of Karwa Chauth, and police have taken her husband into custody, PTI reported. Police have identified the woman as Madhu Srivastava and the accused as her husband, Anand Srivastava, who allegedly attacked her with a pestle.

Karwa Chauth is a festival on which many married women fast from sunrise until moonrise and pray for their husbands’ long life.

“The incident occurred around 11 am in Tyagi Nagar. Accused Anand Srivastava has confessed to killing his wife Madhu Srivastava. We reached the house after getting a call from the accused. The woman’s body was found in the bedroom, with Anand sitting nearby,” Murar police station in-charge Govind Vallabh Bagoli said, according to PTI. The police’s account has not been tested in court.

City Superintendent of Police Sandeep Bangre said Anand had called the emergency number 112 to report the incident, Dainik Bhaskar reported. Police have arrested him and seized the pestle allegedly used, the paper said.

Police have not established a final motive. “A domestic dispute has emerged as the preliminary motive,” Bangre said. “The domestic dispute is being treated as a preliminary motive, and the investigation is continuing to establish what led to the incident.”

The couple had a love marriage in 2010 and have two children, PTI reported. They lived with Anand’s extended family, a police officer said.

After a forensic examination, a post-mortem was scheduled at Jaya Arogya Hospital on Friday, Dainik Bhaskar reported. Police are questioning Anand to establish the circumstances surrounding the killing, India Today reported.