Man kills wife and son at Mumbai home, held after cops expose suicide claim

MUMBAI: A 40-year-old man was arrested for allegedly strangling his wife and son to death with a nylon rope and hanging their bodies from the ceiling of his house to pass off the incident as suicide, Mumbai Police said on Tuesday. The accused, Shivshankar Dutta, committed the crime because he suspected his 36-year-old wife's fidelity. He allegedly killed his son as he had witnessed the murder, a police official said.

The incident came to light on Monday afternoon after Shivkumar informed police that his wife Pushpa Dutta and her son had hanged themselves in his tenement at a chawl in Kandivali area of Mumbai.

Police launched the investigation after registering a case of accidental death, the official said.

"Police found discrepancies in the sequence of events narrated by Shivshankar. During interrogation, he admitted to killing his wife on suspicion of an extramarital affair. He killed his son in a similar manner because he had witnessed the murder," the official said.

Shivshankar hanged their bodies to the steel rod of the ceiling to pass it off as suicide.

Police arrested Shivshankar on charges of murder following his admission to the crime and investigating further, the official added.