Meerut: In a rerun of the infamous blue drum case, a 30-year-old woman from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, has been arrested for getting her husband killed with the help of snake catchers. A man who she was allegedly having an affair with has also been arrested.
Atul Panwar (35) and Damini fell in love and married in 2019. They have a six-year-old son.
The couple had built a modest life together in Meerut’s Hastinapur and had been living in a rented house in the J Block Colony for the past four months. In April, they started a private school, hoping to establish a livelihood.
On Friday morning, Damini alerted neighbours that Atul had been bitten by a snake – which turned out to be a venomous krait – in his sleep. She claimed to have found him motionless when she went into the room to serve him tea. His body bore bite marks on his hands and legs.
Locals reached the house and several reported seeing a snake in the room. Damini insisted that Atul was alone in the room as she and their son were sleeping outside due to the intense heat.
The man was rushed to the community health centre in Hastinapur, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
The case was registered as just another snakebite incident and his body was taken by the family to their village in Bhandora, Meerut, for the last rites. However, Atul’s father had doubts before the cremation and he insisted on a post-mortem examination despite Damini’s objections.
The body was sent for an autopsy and authorities began reconstructing the events leading up to Atul’s death. They analysed phone records, interviewed people close to the family, and found that Damini had been in frequent contact with a man named Tushar alias Nikky (35), a driver employed at the school.
Damini allegedly broke down and admitted to plotting her husband’s murder with Tushar, with whom she had an affair, the police said.
Before long, Damini, Tushar and two snake catchers named Sonu and Uday Kumar, both in their 30s, were arrested, Abhijeet Kumar, ASP, Meerut, said, as reported by The Indian Express.
Investigators now suspect that the murder had been plotted since long. On Thursday night, Damini mixed sleeping pills with the milk she served to Atul before he went to bed. After he fell into a deep sleep, she allegedly called Tushar, who arrived at the house with Sonu and Uday and the snake they helped procure, the police said.
Sonu and Uday allegedly released the snake on Atul’s bed, which then bit him. They then allegedly left the reptile on the bed to make the death appear accidental.
During sustained interrogation, Tushar allegedly told the police that he and Damini had been in a relationship for a long time and had conspired to kill Atul.
The investigation has revealed that the alleged motive was Damini’s affair as well as Atul’s Rs 20 lakh life insurance policy. They claimed that Damini and Tushar had agreed to pay Sonu and Uday Rs 5 lakh from the insurance proceeds for their role in the alleged murder. Police claimed the two snake catchers had already been paid Rs 15,000 in advance.
This was not the first attempt on Atul’s life, the police claimed.
Tushar had allegedly deliberately rammed Atul’s motorcycle with a car in an attempt to kill him, about 20 days before his death. Atul, however, survived the collision with minor injuries because he was wearing a helmet. When Tushar later informed Damini that the attempt had failed, she allegedly discouraged Atul from pursuing a police complaint, saying there was little point because the vehicle’s registration number had not been identified.
