Mumbai: A day after a 36-year-old woman and her eight-year-old son were found hanging at their Kandivli (east) home, police on Tuesday arrested the woman’s husband for double murder. Shivshankar Dutta, the 40-year-old accused, told the police that he suspected his wife, Pushpa, of infidelity. He also said that he also killed their only son, Sayan, since the boy had witnessed his mother’s murder.
The incident has sparked shockwaves in the residential locality of Narsipada. Shivshankar is a tempo driver while Pushpa was a homemaker. Locals said the child studied in class 2 and was academically bright.
On Monday morning, Shivshankar called up a neighbour, saying he was out for work and told him that neither the wife nor son was responding to his calls. He requested the neighbour to check on them. The neighbour knocked at the door, but got no response. He then forced open a window to find the woman and child hanging from the ceiling.
The neighbour informed the husband who arrived soon after. By the time, the police had been informed and the mother-son duo’s bodies had been brought down and placed on the floor.
The police started making inquiries with the husband, and noticed that he was giving contradictory statements. No suicide note had been found in the house. The police said they noticed that the ligature marks seen on the necks of the woman and child were “unusual” and so they requested forensic experts to find out if it was a case of homicide.
During questioning the husband admitted he had strangled the wife with a nylon rope first, and his son later. DCP Smita Patil said forensic reports are awaited.
