Man killed his wife as she refused to move out of Mumbai

Last week, MiD DAY had published chilling CCTV grabs of a man roping in the help of his two young children to dispose of his wife's body (‘Killer husband caught on tape,' December 12). Investigations into the murder of Chhaya Singh (31) have revealed that auto driver Shashi Rajan Singh (36), her husband, had killed her over domestic strife.

Police have revealed that Singh was finding it difficult to sustain himself in a city as expensive as Mumbai and wanted to move, but Chhaya wanted to stay put in Mumbai. This had become a major source of resentment between the couple, and they were often involved in bitter quarrels.

When Chhaya's body was discovered, cops had been bewildered by the discovery of a nail in her right leg. After conducting a post mortem, the doctors revealed that the nail had been hammered in with force.

During interrogations, Singh revealed to the Santacruz police that there was an occult reason behind the insertion of the nail.

Senior Police Inspector Arun Chavan said, "Singh believed that if someone died in an unnatural way then the person's spirit came out and tortured the killer. He hammered a nail into his wife's body so that her spirit could not emerge and torture him."

Singh murdered Chhaya on December 7, and disposed of his body the next day, with help from his clueless kids - his 12-year-old daughter and six-year-old son. Singh had murdered Chhaya at 3 pm, when his daughter was in school and his son was fast asleep.

The police also revealed that Singh had convinced both the children that their mother had died a natural death and that her body should be disposed so that she may rest in peace. The children had no idea that their mother had been brutally murdered by their own father. They are now in Uttar Pradesh with their relatives, and will be summoned to the city soon so their statements can be recorded.

Singh has been remanded in police custody till December 20.u00a0