40-year-old Mahanand is being probed for his alleged involvement in killing eight young women in last 15 years in Goa.
The wife of an alleged serial killer arrested in Goa is under suspicion after victims' kin accused her of assisting her husband in committing crimes.
40-year-old Mahanand is being probed for his alleged involvement in killing eight young women in last 15 years in Goa. He is also accused of raping one of his wife's friends.
The accused, who was initially arrested for raping and blackmailing the girl, confessed to killing eight women during police interrogation.
Mahanand confessed about his sins after few of the girls' family members approached the police station accusing him of "duping young girls on the pretext of marrying them".
"It was Pooja (Mahanand's wife) who had come to our place seeking Yogita's hand for Mahanand. She never told us that she is Mahanand's wife," Khushali Naik, father of Yogita whom the accused cofessed to have killed, told a local news channel.
Khushali said that on the very next day, Mahanand came to pick her from the house near Shiroda.
Yogita had gone missing from January this year. Mahanand confessed of killing her at an isolated spot in Bambolim, a beach village next to Panaji city.
Shankar Naik, father of another alleged victim Darshana, said that Pooja was aware of her husband's crime.
The rape victim, who dared to complaint against Mahanand, alleged that she was introduced to the accused by Pooja.
"Both of them (Pooja and the victim) were learning music together at Shiroda. Pooja went with Mahanand to victim's place and helped them get befriended," Auda Viegas, a social activist, who is helping out Darshana, said.
She said that Pooja should be questioned by police as she could be an equal partner in the crime. "How would she not inquire from where Mahanand was earning money when he was jobless all these years?," Viegas questioned.
Mahanand, a former auto-rickshaw driver and father of one-and-half-year old daughter, was unemployed for several years.
Meanwhile, the villagers also demanded Pooja's arrest on Saturday when they led a delegation to deputy superintendent of police Serafin Dias.
Police, however, is maintaining silence on the issue stating that the case is still being investigated.
Earlier this week, talking to reporters, Pooja had feigned innocence about the alleged crimes of her husband.
"Hang him if he is guilty but I can't believe that he can do such heinous crimes. He can't even kill an ant," she had told reporters at Ponda police station.
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