A man who allegedly caught his wife and her lover together in his house complained to the police that he does not want to live with her anymore as he could be murdered and his body kept in a drum. The incident was reported from Mauranipur in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi district.
The woman, Ritu Verma, a clerk in a government girls' college, had been in an affair with the local councillor Abhishek Pathak, her husband Pawan told the police. The couple has a six-year-old son.
Ever since he discovered the affair, he has been living separately, while his wife and son lived together in Mauranipur. Pawan works at the health department in UP's Mahoba district.
He said he came to know his wife's lover was at their house, after which he informed the police and went there to confront him. When the door opened, the local councillor came out from Pawan's house and started threatening residents and even the police, the complaint said.
"I can't live with my wife because she can kill me and my son. She can serve poisoned tea to us. It is possible our bodies would be found inside a drum," Pawan told the police.
He also made a video of the incident, which showed the councillor shouting after rushing out of the house.
Pawan made the "body in drum" comment alluding to the murder of a former merchant navy officer, Saurabh Rajput, by wife Muskan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla in UP's Meerut. The autopsy report revealed the extreme brutality with which Saurabh Rajput was killed.
His head was severed from the body, both hands were cut off from the wrist and his legs were bent backwards, suggesting an attempt to fit the body in the drum, the autopsy report said. Rajput was allegedly drugged and then stabbed to death by his wife and her lover on March 4, his body dismembered and sealed inside a drum with cement.
Pawan in the video said he caught his wife chatting with someone in October 2024, after which he convinced her to end it.
"She said 'my body is my choice, I can do whatever I want, who are you to stop me?' After that my wife and I have been living separately. Last night I made a video call to my son... I felt that someone else was standing there... She disconnected the call," Pawan said.
"I called the police, and they reached the rented house. They tried to open the door, due to which there was a lot of noise and the neighbours woke up... After a lot of effort, the police got the gate opened... A person came out, and I saw he was Abhishek Pathak, who I caught chatting with my wife in October," Pawan said.
"The police tried to catch him while leaving. He also tried to attack the people who were making videos of the commotion... He is a councillor and tried to use his influence. I told everyone gathered there my wife can live with whoever she wants, but nothing should happen to my child," he said.
The police have taken note of the viral video, and started an investigation.
"A video surfaced on social media in which a young man is seen coming out of a woman's house and an information was received on 112 (police helpline), which rushed to the house and brought him to the police station," police officer Ramveer Singh said.
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