Navi Mumbai: A 37-year-old man from Yadav Nagar, Digha, arrested by Rabale MIDC police for murdering his 24-year-old pregnant wife in Dec 2017, was convicted and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life by the district and additional sessions court at Belapur on Wednesday.
The accused, Akhilesh Gupta, then 28, worked as a machine operator in a private company. Gupta claimed his wife, Mamta, was killed at their residence when he took their 2-year-old daughter for a post-dinner stroll. After police questioned Gupta following the minor girl’s statement, he confessed to killing his wife, who was 6 months pregnant, as she was an obstacle in his plans to marry the teenager.
Police said Gupta had an extramarital affair with a teenage schoolgirl residing in the same locality, who disclosed details about him. The court considered the prosecution’s arguments, the confessional statement of the accused and the testimony of the co-accused teenage girl submitted by the police, and pronounced the judgment that the accused Akhilesh Gupta was found guilty of the offence of his pregnant wife’s murder. The court then convicted and sentenced Gupta to rigorous imprisonment for life after the prosecution sought the strictest punishment.
The co-accused minor girl was then detained by the police and after producing her before the Juvenile Court in Bhiwandi, she was remanded to Juvenile shelter home.