Man kills wife, 3-year-old son to escape alimony

Raipur: Desperate to escape paying court-ordered maintenance to his wife and under pressure from his girlfriend, a man in the Kondagaon district of the state allegedly killed his wife and three-year-old son and dumped their bodies in separate waterbodies. After a month-long investigation, police have arrested seven people, including the husband, in what they describe as a "cold, pre-planned double murder". Kondagaon police said the main accused, Rohit Sethia, conspired with his family members and associates to kill his wife Bhagwati Sethia and their minor son in Farasgaon area of Kondagaon in Bastar division. According to police, the accused first strangled Bhagwati and then killed their three-year-old son the same way. To destroy evidence, Bhagwati's body was allegedly tied to stones and thrown into the Indravati river, while the child's body was dumped in a pond in a forested area of neighbouring Odisha. Bhagwati, a resident of village Sirpur, had married Rohit in 2020. The couple had been living with his family after marriage and had one son. Police said that investigation revealed Bhagwati was subjected to persistent harassment and assault by her in-laws. After that, the couple began living separately followed by a divorce suit. Amid the marital discord, Rohit allegedly started an affair with another woman. During this period, Bhagwati and her son suddenly went missing from her parental home in Sirpur. Police say the murders were executed on Nov 24, when Rohit took Bhagwati along on the pretext of a trip to Visakhapatnam. On the way, near a deserted stretch bordering Odisha, he allegedly strangled both to death. Bhagwati's family told police that she and the child had been missing since Nov 20, but they only came to know about the murders after recovery of bodies on Dec 3. Police began tracking call detail records and tower locations, which eventually led them to the accused. Kondagaon police said the probe so far suggests Rohit was under pressure from his family and girlfriend and wanted to avoid a divorce settlement and a maintenance amount of Rs 5,000 per month ordered by the court. This, officers say, appears to have been the motive behind the double murder. So far, police have arrested main accused Rohit Sethia, his girlfriend Basanti, Rohit's parents, mother Urmila, father Rameshchandra, and three other alleged accomplices, bringing the total number of arrests to seven. Further investigation is underway to reconstruct the sequence of events in Odisha, collect forensic evidence from the disposal sites, and determine the exact role of each accused in the crime.