‘Woman kills kids to marry paramour’

With help from her lover, a 35-year-old woman allegedly strangled two of her children with an electric wire to make way for her second marri...

With help from her lover, a 35-year-old woman allegedly strangled two of her children with an electric wire to make way for her second marriage. Razia Sultan’s third child survived the attack but her husband, Khursheed, has been missing for the past 40 days, police said.

After her arrest today, Razia allegedly confessed: ‘‘I will only marry Yousuf (her lover). My children were not acceptable to him. He said I would have to kill my children, otherwise he would not marry me. I could not have taken care of the children after my new nikaah. So, along with Yousuf, I killed them.’’

Razia, an embroidery worker, was booked for murder while Yousuf is at large.

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Last night, Razia served lassi mixed with intoxicants to her three children — Yasir, 14, Nasir, 12, and their sister Nisha, 9. ‘‘The woman mixed some intoxicants in the lassi. She then called Yousuf,’’ SSP Allahabad Sunil Kumar Gupta said, adding, ‘‘both of them then strangled the children in their sleep with an electric wire.’’

‘‘While Yasir and Nisha died, Nasir survived and feigned death till morning. After Yousuf left the house, he shouted for help. Razia then beat him up with a belt and threatened him not to speak about the incident or he would be dead,’’ Kareli police station officer Virendra Singh said.

Razia started crying, saying her children had died of illness when some friends of her children came to meet them today. On hearing her cry, neighbours informed the police. A post-mortem report confirmed murder. Nasir also deposed against his mother and Yousuf.

‘‘Sultan said Khursheed abandoned her and left for Mumbai 40 days ago. However, circumstantial evidence shows that she may have murdered him with the help of Yousuf as nothing has been heard about him. We are investigating that matter as well,’’ says Singh.