Rickshaw driver gets life for killing wife

PUNE: Additional sessions judge V G Joshi on Thursday sentenced autorickshaw driver Vinod Thorve (28) of Disli village in Mulshi to life imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 3,000 for killing his wife Rupali (22) in 2008.
Vinod's mother Shobha was acquitted of the murder charge, but she and her son was sentenced to three month's rigorous imprisonment for subjecting Rupali to cruelty.Vinod and his mother had asked Rupali to bring dowry of Rs 30,000 for paying rental deposit of his house and Rs 1 lakh from her parents for constructing a new house.
The prosecutions case was that a dispute broke between the couple over the issue of dowry and Vinod in a fit of anger throttled his wife and banged her head on the floor on November 6, 2008. Rupali had received 20 external injuries. The Paud police had arrested the mother-son duo on murder charges after the victim's father Goraknath Gangawane of Karjat registered a murder complaint.
Additional public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar examined eight witnesses, but one of the panch witness had turned hostile. Pawar argued that Vinod after committing the crime had given an extra judicial confession before witnesses by saying that he had assaulted Rupali over a dispute of having meals.
Pawar relied on the circumstantial evidence and medical evidence that the accused had throttled Rupali's neck and had also banged her head on the floor severely killing her instantly. The prosecution also proved that the accused was harassing his wife over dowry demands. The probe in the murder case was conducted by sub-inspector N B Nanaware while police hawaldar Rajendra Sonawane had assisted the prosecution for securing the presence of witnesses.