Granthi’s wife, her lover held for plotting attack on him in Plibhit

Pilibhit: A 38-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly conspiring to kill her husband, a granthi (Sikh preacher), in Pilibhit district, with police claiming that she plotted the attack with her lover and his aide. The husband is currently battling for life at a private hospital in Bareilly, officials said on Saturday.According to police, Harvinder Singh (44), who serves at a gurdwara in Rampura Kon village under Puranpur Kotwali police station limits, was assaulted with a pointed road driller on the evening of March 1 near a culvert in Nadha village while he was returning to the shrine from Karher Chauhra around 7pm. Despite sustaining critical injuries to his head and face, Harvinder managed to crawl into nearby harvested fields and hide. He was later spotted by locals, who rushed him to a medical facility.A day after the attack, his wife, Gurjeet Kaur (38), lodged a written complaint with the police against unidentified assailants. In her complaint filed on March 2, she said her husband is a resident of Kajra village under Khutar police station in Shahjahanpur district and has been serving at the gurdwara in Rampura Kon for the past three years. A case was registered under BNS section 109(1) (attempt to murder).SP Sukirti Madhav said, "During the investigation, we uncovered that a conspiracy to kill him was allegedly hatched by the victim's wife in collusion with her lover, Kuldeep Singh (45), a resident of Rampura Kon village. The attack was allegedly carried out by Kuldeep with the help of his servant, Rakesh Singh. The three accused confessed to their role in the crime."Police said that Kuldeep used to frequently visit Harvinder's house and allegedly developed an affair with Gurjeet around six months ago. When Harvinder came to know about their relationship and objected to it, the two allegedly decided to eliminate him. As part of the plan, Gurjeet sent her husband to Karher Chauhra on the evening of March 1 on the pretext of bringing some material and informed Kuldeep about his route and timing."Acting on the information, Kuldeep and his servant allegedly waited near the Nadha culvert and attacked Harvinder before fleeing the spot, believing he had died. The trio was arrested on Saturday and later sent to jail, the SP said.