Thane, Apr 10 (Midday News): A 40-year-old woman was allegedly killed by her husband over a petty issue in Bhiwandi township of the district, police said on Sunday.

The accused, around 50 years of age, was unemployed. The couple used to survive on the earnings of the woman who worked as a maid in Sanjay Nagar locality in Bhiwandi, Police Inspector R T Dikhle, Shanti Nagar police station, said. The man used to regularly demand money from his wife for various expenses, including for consuming liquor, he said.

Yesterday, he asked his wife to get him some hot water for taking bath. As there was some delay in providing him the hot water, he got angry and allegedly hit his wife on her head with a hammer, the officer said.

He then came out of the house, locked the door from outside and informed the neighbours that he would return shortly, he said. When he did not return for a long time, the neighbours got suspicious and opened the door by force only to find the woman lying dead, Dikhle said.

They alerted the police who rushed to the spot and sent the body for postmortem. Police are on the lookout of the absconding accused,
who has been booked under IPC section 302 (murder), he said. The couple have two daughters and a son.

One of their daughters is married and lives in Mumbai. The other two siblings were also living with her due to frequent fights between their parents, police said.