Husband held for woman’s murder

RAJKOT: In a dramatic twist in the case in which two sadhus were accused of killing a woman, police probe has revealed that it was a cock and bull story concocted by the victim’s daughters at the instance of their father who had actually clubbed the woman to death.

Jaishree Savalia (36) was allegedly killed by the sadhus when she refused to give them alms in Panchawada village of Jasdan taluka in

Rajkot district

on the morning of June 22.

However, on the statement of 14-year-old daughter of the victim, police arrested Jaishree’s husband Ashok Savalia (40) on Monday.

“An alleged extramarital affair of Jaishree was the reason of the crime. Ashok used to suspect Jaishree of being a loose character and being into a relationship with another man. The couple fought frequently over the issue. She was also a tyrant mother who used to treat her daughters as slaves, forcing them to do daily household work. Ashok had gained sympathy of his daughters and on the morning of June 22 he bludgeoned Jaishree to death with an

iron

pestle,” said Atkot police station sub-inspector Ajaysinh Jadeja.

After the murder, Ashok told his daughters — Aksha (16) and Payal (14) — to concoct a tale of Sadhus killing their mother and present it before the cops, an hour after he left the house.

“After the statements of the daughters that their mother had been killed by two sadhus, we had formed five teams and were combing various villages of Jasdan taluka in their search. However, the villagers told us that they had seen no sadhus. Then we questioned the neighbours of the Savalia family who revealed that the couple used to fight frequently. This raised our suspicion and we quizzed the daughters, following which Payal told us that the real murderer was Ashok,” added Jadeja.