Mumbai: 8-year-old child's statement nails dad for mother's death

Police had registered accidental death case after female RPF constable was found dead at her home; son told them later that she had fallen and hit her head on the floor after his dad slapped her

A Mira Road man nearly got away with murdering his wife, until his 8-year-old son’s statement nailed his lie. Shivkumar Patel (40), who lived with his wife Shalini an RPF constable and their 8-year-old son at Shanti Nagar in Mira Road (East), called the police on December 10 and said he had found his wife dead at their residence.

In his statement to the police, he said that she had slipped and fallen and had probably died of her injuries. Accordingly, the Mira Road police registered an accidental death report. After the preliminary post-mortem revealed on December 12 that Shalini had some facial injuries as well, the police got suspicious and began investigating the case thoroughly.

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Their suspicions, were, however, confirmed only when they spoke to the couple’s son on Monday and he told them that his father had slapped his mother hard following an argument, leading to her falling on the floor and injuring her head. “The boy told us that his mother was slapped hard by his father at home and had fallen to the floor. He said his father had warned him against speaking of the incident,” said an officer from the Mira Road police.

Affair
Shalini and Shivkumar had been fighting frequently for the past two years as she suspected he was having an affair with his brother’s wife. “The deceased, Shalini, had been tense for quite some time as she and her husband fought often and she had been harassed by him several times.

Her death from the injuries may have been an accident, but Shivkumar had hit her intentionally,” added the officer. Based on the son’s statement, Shivkumar was arrested on Monday night and charged with murder under Section 302 of the IPC. He was produced in court yesterday and remanded in police custody.

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