Police revise claim: Ministry official had strangled wife,set himself on fire

“There are no burn injuries on Archana’s body. She was dressed formally,in a green and yellow long skirt. There was a piece of synthetic cloth stuck on Yashkar’s body. It appears to be that of a tracksuit. It is possible that the incident took place in the morning,and people failed to hear or see him burning inside the house,” said a police officer.

Police sources said there was no third person in the house at the time of the murder,bringing back to life the theory of murder-suicide — that Kumar Yashkar strangled his wife and then committed self immolation.

“There are two doors to the house — one is an iron door and the other has the latch on the inside. The latch on the second door is very difficult to tamper with. All our observations suggest that Yashkar murdered his wife and then committed suicide. There was no burn injuries on the body of Archana Sharma,” said an investigation official.

The official added that police are probing the provocation to the murder-suicide.

“We are questioning the colleagues and family members of the two deceased,” said the official.

Police said Archana was under medication since 2009,though they have not linked this fact to the deaths yet.

The couple did not have a child.

Earlier,it was mentioned that Archana had head injuries,but police on Monday said these were caused during strangulation.

Police suspect that the Archana’s murder was not planned,as Yashkar had called a mechanic to fix their refrigerator on Friday afternoon.

“When the fridge mechanic did not get any response to the door bell,he informed the neighbours,who called the police. The mechanic was called in by Yashkar,so police suspect a sudden provocation led him to murder Archana,” said the official.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Vivek Gogia said,“The investigation in the matter is on and we are awaiting the post-mortem report of Kumar Yashkar.”