Police have arrested the wife of a 35-year-old labourer from Mumbai whose body was found in a creek in Palghar district of Maharashtra, along with a couple she had allegedly hired to kill him, police said on Wednesday.
Prima facie, 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.
The highly-decomposed body was found in the creek near Naigaon in Palghar district on January 27. The postmortem report revealed 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 came to know that a couple and a woman have gone "missing" from Goregaon recently. They were traced to Vapi in Gujarat and arrested.
"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.
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