Mumbai: woman hires couple to kill husband, three arrested

Police arrested the wife of a 35-year-old Mumbai labourer whose body was found in a creek in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Wednesday, along with a couple she allegedly hired to kill him.

The woman wanted to get rid of her husband and hired a 40-year-old man and his 28-year-old wife to kill him. The accused are residents of suburban Goregaon in Mumbai. The labourer was also staying in the same area, a crime branch official of Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar Police said.

On January 27, a highly decomposed body was found in a creek near Naigaon in the Palghar district. According to the postmortem report, the man was fatally attacked in his neck and head with a sharp weapon, following which a case of murder was registered against unidentified persons, the official said.

He said police identified the victim from the description of clothes mentioned in the missing person complaint filed with the Mumbai Police.

During the investigation, the police found that a couple and a woman had recently gone "missing" from Goregaon. They were tracked down and detained in Vapi, Gujarat.

"During their interrogation, the couple told the police they were lured with money by the labourer's 30-year-old wife to kill him. As per the preliminary information, the couple was promised to pay Rs 1 lakh and was paid Rs 20,000 in advance. Police are verifying this information," he added.