An army personnel was arrested for allegedly killing his wife and daughter while they were asleep in Rajasthan's Jodhpur district. According to the police, the accused has been identified as Ram Prasad who tried to pass it off as an accident after committing the crime.
The crime was carried out on Sunday morning (July 30), while the arrest could be made after the post-mortem report ascertained death by strangulation and burn injuries. The victims have been identified as Rukmeena (25) and Ridhima (2). Citing the autopsy report, DCP (East) Amrita Duhan said that both mother and daughter were first strangulated and then set ablaze using petrol.
The accused would often have quarrels with his wife
In January 2020, Sikkim native Ram Prasad had married Rukmeena, who hails from Nepal. He has been posted in Jodhpur since August 2020. Duhan said that the two would often have quarrels. "So he wanted to get rid of his wife and hatched the plan to kill her. He also decided to kill his infant daughter in order to get rid of her responsibility," Duhan added.
He allegedly murdered his wife and daughter as they were sleeping at around 4 am on July 30. Following this, Ram Prasad poured petrol on them and burned them to destroy the evidence, the police officer said. After that, he ran out of the house claiming his wife and child were burnt in a fire caused by a short circuit in the cooler and that he tried to save them, Duhan said.
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Accused was recently promoted
Police also said that Ram Prasad had been promoted to the post of 'Clerk' from 'Naik' and was about to set off for Bengaluru for training on Monday. Police and some army officials had suspected Ram Prasad since the beginning based on circumstantial evidence.
Subsequently, police arrested Ram Prasad and interrogated him, who admitted that he killed his wife and daughter. Police had already filed a case under Section 302 of IPC against Ram Prasad on the complaint by the subedar of his unit.
(With PTI inputs)
