Man kills wife, hangs her from ceiling pipe in Mumbai

After the post mortem revealed that the woman was murdered, a case was registered at Goregaon police station on Tuesday.

The police are on the lookout for a 36-year-old autorickshaw driver who allegedly murdered his wife by strangling her and tried to pass it off as suicide by hanging her from the ceiling pipe in their Goregaon (West) home.

According to police, the accused, Neeraj Gauda, 36, and Pooja Gauda, 30, were married with a 10-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son.(HT FILE)

After the post mortem revealed that the woman was murdered, a case was registered at Goregaon police station on Tuesday. According to police, the accused, Neeraj Gauda, 36, and Pooja Gauda, 30, were married with a 10-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son. The couple was originally from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh and had settled in Mumbai.

The couple lived in a three-storey structure, owned by Neeraj’s family, in Teen Dongri. Neeraj’s mother, brother, brother’s wife and their children lived on the ground floor; the first floor was rented out to tenants; and Neeraj, Pooja and their children lived on the second floor.

A relative, who did not wish to be named, said, “On Sunday evening, I returned home around 7pm and saw Neeraj and Pooja’s children crying. They told me that Neeraj had locked them out of the house. When we went upstairs, we found Pooja’s body hanging from the pipe.”

“The autopsy report from Siddharth Hospital cleared that Gauda strangled his wife, tried to make it look like a suicide and then fled the scene. We believe that he was under the influence of alcohol when the incident took place,” said an officer from Goregaon police station.

The fight started after Puja demanded money to pay their son’s school fees. “They used to fight frequently,” said the relative. Neeraj’s mother refused to comment. “I don’t know anything. My son has run away,” she said.