'He used to consume enhancement pills': Fed up with repeated sexual abuse, woman poisons and strangles husband to death

SURAT: Fed up with her husband's alleged sexually violent behaviour, which police said intensified after he consumed sex-enhancement pills, a 39-year-old woman allegedly poisoned and later suffocated him to death.

The crime surfaced days later after a dispute over the victim's last rites raised suspicion in the family, prompting police to order a forensic post-mortem that confirmed death due to asphyxia caused by compression of the neck and chest.

Limbayat police have arrested the accused, Ishrat Khatun, and launched a detailed investigation.

The victim, Haider Ali (39), a native of Bihar's East Champaran district, worked as a tile-fitting labourer in Mumbai, while Khatun lived with their four children in Limbayat. Unable to tolerate the repeated abuse, Khatun allegedly decided to eliminate him.

Ali visited the family once or twice a month. According to the investigation, when Ali arrived in Surat on Jan 1, Khatun prepared turmeric milk for him, claiming it would be good in the cold weather. She allegedly mixed insecticide into the drink. Soon after consuming it, Ali's health began deteriorating and he vomited repeatedly. Despite this, he was not taken to hospital.

On the morning of Jan 5, when Ali was extremely weak, Khatun allegedly sat on his chest and strangled him with her hands, police said.

She later informed her brother-in-law, Arshad (33), that Ali was unwell. The family rushed him to SMIMER Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

After the routine postmortem, the body was handed over to the family. However, on reaching home, the deceased's brother and his wife had a quarrel after he insisted that burial and final rites be done in their native in Bihar. When she insisted that burial be done in Surat, he got suspicious and called the police. The next day, Jan 6, the police got forensic PM done and the family then left for Bihar with the body. He was buried on Jan 9.

Police registered a case against Khatun under BNS Sections 103(1) (murder) and 123 (causing hurt by poison).

The couple had been married for 15 years and had four children. Police said they are probing whether any other person was involved in the crime.