Palakoderu (Andhra Pradesh), Jul 20 (IANS): An early morning scuffle between an enraged octogenarian man and his 65-year-old wife resulted in the former dying and the latter getting hospitalised, in Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district on Tuesday.
The early morning horror story unfolded at Palakoderu village in West Godavari district. The police have identified the deceased person as Kanumuri Vijaya Rama Raju (80), who died following the scuffle with his wife who has been identified as Kanumuri Sarala Devi (62).
"Both of them had disputes and fought with each other in a closed room. I think the husband first hit the wife with a grinding stone and later she hit him back," West Godavari Superintendent of Police, Rahul Dev Sharma, told IANS.
Though nobody has seen what exactly happened inside the locked home, police are reconstructing the incident and believe that Raju could have died of a small hit from Devi.
In the same scuffle, Devi was also hit by a heavy grinding stone.
Sharma said following the incident, Devi had called her step-son who lives nearby at around 6.45 a.m., but she could not speak.
"The son got suspicious and came running to the elderly couple's house, which was locked from inside. After breaking the door open, he found Raju lying dead and Devi in a pool of blood," Sharma said.
The police are waiting to record the statement of Devi, who is currently undergoing treatment at a hospitalied.
"Once she regains consciousness, we will record her statement. Although we have registered a murder case, we would like to take her statement and find out what exactly happened between them," said officer said.
Sharma said the bone of contention was how early they should leave for their relative's home where a wedding is due to be celebrated.
"The wife wanted to go for the wedding 10 days in advance, but the husband wanted to go 1-2 days before the marriage because of the Covid situation, which led to a fight," he said.
The police have registered a murder case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
According to Sharma, this was the second marriage for both Raju and Devi.