Indian American woman arrested for plotting husband's murder in US

New York: An Indian American woman in Texas has been arrested on charges of plotting to kill her husband.

According to an affidavit filed yesterday in a county court in Austin, Texas, 34-year-old Reena Ratilal Patel was arrested for trying to hire people to kill her husband, Texas media reported.

Mrs Patel, who lives in the Steiner Ranch neighbourhood in Austin, drove to an apartment complex in Rutland Drive in north Austin last week where she asked several people about hiring a person to "take care of" her husband.

A witness called the police around 2 pm on September 4 to report that a woman, identified as Patel, came to her and said her husband had beaten her and she needed that he be "taken care of", reported Kvue News.

Another witness told police that she asked Mrs Patel: "Wait, do you mean beat him up?" "No, permanently," Mrs Patel reportedly responded.

Advertisement

Mrs Patel also reportedly walked over to a group of teenagers and asked them the same thing. She allegedly offered them $4,000 to kill her husband, the Kvue News reported citing witnesses.

When police arrived at the spot and intercepted her, Mrs Patel told them that she got lost on her way to a friend's house and had stopped to ask for directions.

Advertisement

When police went to Mrs Patel's house to talk to her husband, identified as Brij Patel, he said that his wife had sent him a message saying she had two more patients to see at work and he would have to pick up the kids from school.

But the Texas Board of Dental Examiners told cops that Reena Patel had never applied or been granted a licence to practice dentistry in Texas.

Advertisement

Mrs Patel has been held on a $1 million bond and a protective order has been placed on her husband and children. She has also been ordered to stay away from the family's home and her husband, the report said.