Man kills wife, hangs self

KOLKATA: The body of a man and his wife were found at their Purbachal Block D residence in Ghola, North 24-Parganas, on Friday. Police suspect Mani Bhattacharya (48) strangled his wife Jharna to death and then committed suicide. They have detained Mani's sister for questioning.
Bhattacharya (48) was employed with a private firm. Apart from their two tenants, Mani's 90-year-old mother Gita also lived with them.Around 8 am on Friday, Mani's tenants noticed the door to his ground-floor room locked from inside though Mani usually opened it early in the morning.
The two informed neighbour Khokon Chakraborty who opened a window after some effort. On peeping inside, Khokon saw Mani hanging from the ceiling and Jharna (32) lying dead on the bed.
Ghola police later broke into the room and sent the bodies for autopsy. Police said there were no marks of external injury on Jharna's body though there were blood stains around her body. Blood was oozing out of Mani's mouth, too. A gamchha (towel) was found near Jharna's body which, police suspect, was used to strangle her.
"Prima facie, it seems Mani hanged himself after killing Jharna. But we are looking into all angles of the case," said Rahul Srivastav, North 24-Parganas SP.
Police said the Bhattacharyas were married for 14 years but had no children. Mani's sister, Bhadra Das, reportedly pressured him to will his property in her son's name. Police detained her after Jharna's brothers Sunil and Dipak Bramha lodged a complaint against her.