Ludhiana: After body exhumed from graveyard, man booked for beating wife to death

Police said Shiraj Ansari (42), a resident of Guru Nanak Nagar who worked at a cycle repair shop, allegedly assaulted his wife Shah Jahan Khatoon (40) on the night of September 15. The couple, it is learnt, did not share a good relationship as Shiraj was married to another woman.
According to police, the accused had told the neighbours and his four sons and a daughter that Khatoon died after falling down the stairs. He also took the children along with him to Bihar, said police.

ACP (east) Devinder Chaudhary told The Indian Express that on September 18, the woman’s brother Mehtab Ansari approached the police and alleged that his Shiraj had murdered his sister. He said in his complaint that he wants the body to be exhumed and autopsy conducted.

On Thursday, the body was exhumed in the presence of a magistrate, said the ACP, adding that the autopsy revealed head injuries, multiple fractures in the rib cage and other injuries which clearly indicated that she died after a brutal assault. Following the autopsy report, an FIR under charges of murder was lodged against Shiraj at division No 7 police station.

S-I Sukhdev Raj said the victim had been living with her parents in Naharpur village in Bihar for the past seven years after Shiraj married for a second time. Her eldest son Babu (17) brought her to Ludhiana on August 25, he said.

Raj further said that the accused buried the body on Monday in the presence of a local relative. “He told the relative that his wife had died after falling down the stairs. The relative helped him in the burial. The accused told his children that their mother has died and they will now live in Bihar. They left for Bihar on Tuesday. But, one of the nephews of the victim who lives nearby had clicked a photo of her body which shows grievous head injuries. He called up the woman’s family and informed them. Following this, her brother, who lives in Delhi, came to Ludhiana and demanded that the body be exhumed,” said the S-I.

Police have registered an FIR against Shiraj under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing the disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) of IPC.