Lucknow, Apr 1 (IANS): A housewife was stabbed to death by a carpenter who was working in her house, over a dispute in payment.

The deceased, Ruchi Agrawal, 38, was a resident of Gomti Nagar here.

She suffered injuries on her chest and doctors, who examined her, said after preliminary examination that her heart was punctured in the knife attack and excessive bleeding caused death.

The body has been sent for post mortem examination.

According to reports, the murder took place on Wednesday when Gulfam, a carpenter, went upstairs to Ruchi's room to demand money for a business he wanted to start.

Ruchi was talking to her husband Harsh Agarwal on the phone and asked Gulfam to wait till she ended the conversation.

This infuriated Gulfam and he attacked her brutally.

Ruchi's pet dog came to her rescue but Gulfam attacked the dog too. Harsh heard her screaming on the phone and immediately informed his neighbours who reached the scene.

Ruchi's daughters, Priyanshi, 16, and Vamish, 14, came running to her room on hearing her screams but Ruchi asked the girls to run downstairs.

In the ensuing commotion, Gulfam fled the scene.

The accused was later arrested by the police.

A resident of Thakurganj, Gulfam, 34, had been working in the victim's house for the past two months. He was engaged in the woodwork on the ground floor of the two-storied house.

ACP Gomti Nagar, Shweta Srivastava, said that Gulfam was picked up while trying to flee and a knife and hammer used in the attack were recovered from him.

"During interrogation, Gulfam disclosed that he wanted money from the Agarwals and had asked Harsh in the morning before he left but was not given an assuring response. He said he wanted to threaten Ruchi into giving him money by showing the knife and hammer but got angry and attacked her," the ACP said.