Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Nov 26: A woman who abandoned her husband at the behest of her maternal uncle and shifted base to the city to marry him was killed by her would-be husband. Varalaxmi (26) from Varthur was killed by her uncle, whom she had hoped to marry.

Varalaxmi's maternal uncle, Harish (41) from Huskur, stands arrested. The murder, which had occurred on Sunday November 22, had come to light the next day. The arrest was made on Tuesday.

At the instance of Harish, who worked as a mason, Varalaxmi had left her husband and rented a house here along with her four children. She eked out a living by working as domestic help. She used to regularly pressurize Harish to marry her. But, Harish, whose finances were already in doldrums with the necessity of meeting educational expenses of his two children who are in PU class, was putting off her proposal.

Frustrated at her constant pressure, Harish killed Varalaxmi by tightening a towel around her neck after the children slept, on Sunday. On Monday, her three-year-old son, who tried to wake his mother up, called a neighbour after she did not wake up. This woman passed on information about this death to police station.

Initially it was projected to be a case of suicide, but forensic tests revealed that it was a murder. Harish, who had planned to flee to Kerala, had put off his plan for a day, as he needed a day to arrange Rs 5,000 by way of borrowing from a friend. Before he could escape, police knocked at his door and took him into custody.