Chennai: Woman gets businessman hubby killed over insulting remarks

Chennai: Enraged over her husband’s alleged insulting remarks and supposed unequal treatment meted out to her, a 37-year-old woman planned and got her businessman husband murdered at their residence in Ekkatuthangal on June 5. Udaya Lekha, an MCA graduate, was arrested by Central Crime Branch (CCB) on Wednesday for conniving with a call taxi driver and murdering her husband, Udaya Balan.

“In spite of being a post graduate, my husband didn’t treat me as an equal and hurled insults at me. He was also threatening me of divorce often,” an official statement from the CCB quoting the woman said. City police arrested the other accused, Prabhakaran ten days ago in connection with the case. Prabhakaran had fled with the five-sovereign gold chain and '30,000 cash from the businessman’s home.

Udaya Balan was found dead in a pool of blood at his house on Jothi Nagar main road in Ekkatuthangal by his mother. His wife was away at Karaikal at her relative’s place with their three children, police said.

Even as police arrested the cab driver who claimed that he committed the murder as the businessman refused to give him a loan, suspicions prevailed in the case as evidence suggested it to be orchestrated by a family member, police said. “The CCTV cameras were switched off and the recording device was inundated in water,” said a police officer. The woman confessed to her role in the murder after interrogation. She was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.