BENGALURU: What began as a tattoo of “another woman” on the husband’s forearm ended in the murder of his wife and a sentence of life imprisonment for him.Earlier this week, a city court convicted 33-year-old Vinay Kumar, a resident of A Narayanapura in Mahadevapura, of killing his wife Ashwini D, 29, inside their home in April 2021. Since his arrest, Kumar had remained lodged in Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara, with his attempt to secure bail failing.
Kumar and Ashwini, an engineer and his younger sister’s classmate, met at a family wedding, fell in love, and married in 2018. But the marriage began to unravel three years later when Kumar returned home with a tattoo reading “Roopa” inked on his right forearm. When Ashwini questioned him about the tattoo and demanded to know who Roopa was, Kumar gave evasive answers. She later discovered that he was having an affair. According to the prosecution, Kumar feared she might take legal or personal action against him. Unwilling to end the relationship with Roopa, he decided to eliminate his wife. Public prosecutor Satyavati HR told TOI the murder was planned carefully. On the night of April 16, 2021, Kumar purchased a can of beer and a strip of 10 sleeping tablets before returning home. After having chicken biryani for dinner, he forced Ashwini to drink the beer, secretly mixed with the tablets. She soon slipped into a deep sleep. Kumar believed the overdose would be fatal. When he found Ashwini still breathing early the next morning, Kumar strangled her using her dupatta. “Afterwards, he stepped out of the house and raised the alarm, claiming his wife was lying motionless,” Satyavati said. With a neighbour’s help, he took Ashwini to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead. Kumar initially managed to convince Ashwini’s parents and relatives that it was a natural death. However, Mahadevapura police ordered an autopsy, while viscera samples were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory. The autopsy revealed the death was due to strangulation, leading to Kumar’s arrest. Subsequent FSL reports confirmed the presence of alcohol and sleeping tablets in Ashwini’s system. During the trial, circumstantial evidence sealed Kumar’s fate. Testimonies from a wine shop cashier and a medical store assistant, backed by CCTV footage, established that Kumar had purchased the beer and sleeping tablets on the night of the murder. After police filed the charge-sheet, Kumar filed his bail application. Police, however, discovered that the surety documents submitted were fake and informed the court that his family had distanced themselves from him after the crime. The bail plea was rejected, forcing him to spend time in prison.
