Body of married man found in guesthouse

Patna: The body of a 27-year-old married man was found under suspicious circumstances at a guesthouse near Patliputra Interstate Bus Terminal in Patna on Tuesday.The deceased, Santosh Kumar Sharma, son of late Anil Sharma and a resident of Narayanpur in Jehanabad district, was found lying on a bed in a room while a woman was present beside him.On receiving information, police reached the spot and began an investigation. The woman, a native of Uttar Pradesh, was taken into custody for questioning after the victim’s family accused her of murdering Santosh. The body was sent to Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH), Patna, for post-mortem examination, and a forensic science laboratory team was called.Ranjan Kumar, sub-divisional police officer II of Patna Sadar, said the guesthouse manager informed police around 2am that a youth died by suicide. “When the police reached the spot, the body was lying on the bed, while his girlfriend was also in the room. Prima facie, there were no injury marks around the neck of the victim, and no noose was found in the room. The girl informed the staff of the guest house that Santosh died by suicide when she was sleeping,” he said.Ranjan said the case appeared suspicious and the woman was detained after Santosh’s brother-in-law, Kundan Kumar, lodged a complaint. “It came to light that Santosh was having an extra-marital affair since 2023 and he got married to another woman in Jehanabad last year in Nov, who is five months pregnant,” he said.He added, “Santosh and Riya came to Patna on May 4 and took a room in the guest house under Ramkrishna Nagar police station area. The girl was supposed to leave for Siliguri on Tuesday.”According to police, the exact cause of death will be known after the post-mortem report. CCTV footage, the guest house register and Aadhaar cards of both have been seized for investigation.