Husband, mother-in-law get life for Indian woman's murder

NEW YORK: An Indian-American man and his mother were sentenced to life imprisonment by an Ohio court for murdering his wife, allegedly due to domestic tensions over her non-adherence to 'Indian customs'.

Thirty three-year-old Chetan Patel and his mother Minaxiben, 50, were convicted by a jury last week for aggravated murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. A judge in Summit County yesterday awarded the man a life term with parole possibility after 30 years.

Chetan's mother got life imprisonment with parole possibility after 25 years for the 2005 slaying of 28-year-old Sejal Patel of Twinsburg, media reports said on Thursday.

The body of the women, a mother of two children aged 7 and 4, was found in the rear cargo compartment of a sport utility vehicle. She had been beaten and strangled.

Two co-defedants, Rupal Patel, 33 and Vijay Patel, 37, unrelated to the family and each other, previously pleaded guilty to murder charges and given life sentences. Prosecutors said Rupal and Chetan, a suspect in two domestic incidents involving his wife before the slaying, were having an affair.

Vijay was a family friend.

According to prosecutors, the Patels' marriage was unravelling and tensions were building between the young woman and her mother-in-law. They said Minaxiben did not approve of the marriage because Sejal did not adhere to 'Indian customs'.

Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Brian LoPrinzi told the court that notifying police about the domestic incidents had greatly irritated the mother-in-law.