Kolkata man who killed his wife was arrested earlier too on charges of domestic violence

KOLKATA: The 59-year-old man, who had surrendered before the police after killing his 54-year-old estranged wife, was arrested earlier this year too on charges of assaulting his wife and refusing to pay her the alimony money after they had got divorced last year.

"The couple used to fight very frequently. They have lodged several complaints of assaults against each other. When he came to the police station last evening we thought they again had a fight but then he told us that he has killed his wife this time," said an officer of Taltala Police Station.

The officer added Ashok Dutta himself had also consumed poison and had slumped at the police station shortly after surrendering himself. He was taken to NRS Medical College and Hospital where he was admitted till late on Tuesday. "We have arrested him but would take him to the court only after the doctor declares him fit. As of now, we have posted our officers beside his hospital bed," said the officer.

Police said the man has confessed that on Monday they had fight since morning and around afternoon, he lost his cool and attacked his wife. His wife had also retaliated but the man overpowered her and strangulated her to death before pressing a pillow against her face to smother her. "The post mortem examination has revealed multiple marks of injury on her face but the death was caused due to strangulation," said the officer.

The officer added after killing his wife he also drank rat killer poison and had passed out but regained consciousness in the evening when he went to the police station and surrendered himself.

"I saw him walking slowly outside his house. I asked him if he was sick but he didn't reply. He drank a jug of water from a roadside shop selling chapatis and then walked away. After an hour we got to know he had surrendered before the police for killing his wife," said Mithu Chakraborty, a neighbour who runs a store opposite to Dutta's house at Doctors' Lane.

Neighbours in Taltala said Dutta and his former wife Mala had got married in 1992 but four years into their marriage differences had cropped up in their relation and soon the quarrels turned into fistcuffs. Dutta used to run an electrical goods shop near his home and Mala used to do some knitting work from home. They did not have any child. "The couple used to fight openly on the road. There have been several occasions when the woman had dragged the man out of the shop and beat him up with chappals. The man also used to retaliate," said a neighbour who runs a store opposite to Dutta's shop.

After living in the bitter relation for several years, the couple had sought for divorce around four years back and was allegedly granted separation by the court last year with a condition that Dutta would have to pay an alimony fee. Currently, the couple used to live in the same rented house - the man in the ground floor and the woman in the first floor.

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