Man kills wife after she refused to sell her earrings to buy new shirt

BERHAMPORE: A 30-year-old man allegedly killed his wife after she refused to part with her gold earrings that he wanted to sell for buying a new shirt.

The body of the victim, Sonali Bibi (25), was recovered on Thursday morning at Shashpara-Belpukur area, under Kandi police station jurisdictions in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. She is a mother of two.

Her husband, Nursalim Sheikh, has been absconding since the incident on Wednesday night. A case of murder has been registered against Sheikh but he is on the run. “No arrests have yet been made in this case,” said Somnath Bhattacharya, inspector-in-charge, Kandi police station. A day-labourer from Kolshi village in Kandi area, Sheikh married five years ago. According to their neighbours, he used to beat up his wife regularly, mostly in a drunken state, and put pressure on her to get money from her parents.

“Sonali had to the face brutal torture whenever she failed to meet husband’s demand,” said a neighbour. Sundari Khatun, younger sister of the victim, said, “My brother-in-law has no regular income, but is an alcoholic. He brutally beat up my sister a few days ago, when our parents failed to meet his demand. His demands for money were never-ending. So, a few days ago, my sister was forced to move out and come to our place.”

She added that a quarrel broke out between the couple on Wednesday night when Sheikh reached his wife’s paternal home and demanded her gold ear ring to pay for an expensive shirt he wanted to buy. “The issue was finally resolved when I promised my brother-in-law to pay for his shirt on Thursday morning,” she said. However, Sheikh and one of his friends accompanying him took her out of the house at night, on the pretext of accompanying her for answering nature’s call.

When her body was found on Thursday morning, the earrings were missing, said the victim’s sister.