Pune Crime Files: How MBA graduate’s cold demeanour helped cops unravel his wife’s murder disguised as a robbery attempt

It took some time before the investigation revealed that Swapnil had staged the attempted robbery to cover up Sheetal’s brutal murder which he had committed because he suspected that she was being unfaithful to him.

To the police, however, Swapnil stated that on returning home from work, he had found the door to be locked but Sheetal did not respond to calls or knocks on the door.

An FIR of murder was registered against an unidentified person after Swapnil gave the police a detailed statement. He told the officers that when he opened the door, he found Sheetal lying face down in the kitchen. He said that a black wire, which had been plugged into the power socket, was wrapped around her thumb where she had a burn injury. A blue nylon rope was used to strangle her, which he had removed using scissors, his statement said.

An officer who supervised the investigation at the time said, “Prima facie it did look like a robbery attempt as claimed by the husband. A lot of things in their house had been scattered and there were also indications of struggle. Based on the complaint filed by the husband, we registered a case of murder against unidentified suspects.”

A joint investigation was launched by the Detection Branch of the Shirur police and the Crime Branch of the Pune Rural police.

“While the story narrated by the husband seemed plausible, what first raised our suspicions was the husband’s disturbingly cold and emotionless demeanour. As we dug further, we found that the husband and wife had constant fights over personal issues,” the officer added.

“Our team was already looking into the footage obtained from some of the cameras installed in the area. Camera footage showed a sequence of events contradictory to the one narrated by the husband. During questioning, the husband kept changing his version of the story,” the officer said.

Another officer who was posted with the Shirur police at the time of the probe, said the man eventually confessed to the crime. “Thorough questioning of the husband, where he was confronted about the contradictions, resulted in getting a confession out of him. He said he had murdered his wife over the suspicion that she was involved with someone else,” the office said.

“He had mercilessly given her electric shocks and had strangled her to death before leaving the house earlier that day. He was subsequently placed under arrest,” the officer said. A chargesheet was subsequently filed against Swapnil and the case is currently pending before the court, the police added.