Ahmedabad man gets life term for killing wife

More than three years after a man killed his wife, suspecting her of becoming pregnant due to an illicit relationship, the chief district judge in Surat, on Friday, sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Maya Patil, a resident of Mayur society in Limabayat sustained serious burns after her husband Kishor set her ablaze by dousing her with kerosene on April 18, 2008. Maya was admitted to SMIMER hospital, where she succumbed to her burn injuries during treatment on April 23. Meanwhile, Maya's father lodged a complaint at Limbayat police station accusing Kishor of killing his wife.

Cops arrested Kishor and during investigation, he confessed to committing the crime. He stated that Maya was promiscuous and had become pregnant owing to an illicit relationship.

However, truth suggested otherwise. Maya's post-mortem revealed that she had a tumour in her stomach since the last four months old, owing to which her stomach appeared bloated, as if she were pregnant.

"By the time Kishor learnt about this, he repented a lot. The chief district judge Justice BU Joshi sentenced him to life term with a penalty of Rs1,000. A failure to pay the penalty would result in a further three months of imprisonment," Rinku Parekh, government pleader, said.