Mumbai: Woman cremates hubby at Marve after murder, gets fake death certificate

MUMBAI: A man was allegedly cremated by his wife and her lover at Marve, after claiming he died a natural death. But the woman and the 25-year-old youth had allegedly killed her husband as he was against their relationship. City crime branch (unit XI) arrested Malad resident Arup Das (25), a supervisor at a canteen in a hospital in South Mumbai.
Das's friend Sagar Sharma, an auto driver who allegedly provided sleeping pills to be given to the victim, Mahesh Patel, was also held.
Unit VIII received information last week that a man was killed by his wife and her lover but the case was closed as a natural death. "We collected more information and picked up Das and Sharma. They spilled the beans after we interrogated them separately," said Ajay Joshi, senior inspector (unit VIII). Assistant inspector Laxmikant Shelkar's information led to detection of the case. A police team collected the death certificate, and then collected evidence, said deputy commissioner of police Dattatray Nalawade.
Police said Mahesh, a resident of Malad who died on December 20 last year, used to drive a luxury bus and often left home for days. His family cremated him at Marve cemetery, claiming he died of cardiac arrest. Das used to stay near Mahesh's house in Marve but later shifted.
He used to allegedly secretly meet Mahesh's wife and later started staying in his house, paying Rs5,000 as rent. Das and Mahesh's wife had an illicit affair, and once, when Mahesh saw them in a compromising position, he threw Das out of the house, police said.
'As it became difficult for Das to meet Mahesh's wife, they decided to kill him, police said. Das allegedly decided to bump off Mahesh in a road accident. Police said they did a recce and hired a tempo twice, but they missed Mahesh, so they decided to poison him.
Mahesh's wife added pills to his food but as it did not work, she called Das at night and they strangled him, said Joshi. Police are probing where Mahesh's mother-in-law and three children were that night. "We are looking for the man's wife and doctor who issued the fake death certificate," sub-inspector Manohar Karande said.