Man Strangles Wife To Death For Serving Salty Food For Breakfast

A man allegedly strangled his wife to death for serving him salty food for breakfast in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India on Friday, April 15.

On April 15, at around 9 a.m., the accused, identified as Nikesh Ghag, a 46-year-old computer operator with the Bank of Maharashtra, Dahisar East, Mumbai, allegedly choked his 40-year-old wife, Nirmala, to death at their apartment located at Bhayandar East in Mumbai. After murdering his wife, Ghag surrendered himself to Navghar police and confessed to his crime, the Indian Express reported.

According to Ghag’s 12-year-old son who witnessed the incident, while Ghag had been fasting, Nirmala made him sabudana khichdi for breakfast. Sabudana khichri is a dish typically made in several Indian states. After eating the food, Ghag reportedly found the dish to be extremely salty and picked a fight with his wife. The man suffered from high blood pressure and frequently quarrels with his wife over her cooking.

However, the fight escalated and Ghag, in a fit of rage, allegedly used his bare hands to strangle Nirmala. After Nirmala fell to the floor unconscious, he took a nylon rope and used it to kill her.

Their son, who witnessed the horrifying incident, cried and pleaded with his father to stop the attack. The boy said that even though his mother tried to fight back, his father overpowered her. As Ghag rushed out of the flat after strangling Nirmala to death, the son called his maternal grandmother and his uncle, Prabhakar Gurav, to inform them about the incident, Hindustan Times reported.

Following this, the victim's relatives rushed to the scene. Nirmala was immediately brought to the Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Civic Hospital. However, she was declared dead upon arrival.

According to Nirmala's family, the couple had been fighting for the past several days over domestic issues. As of press time, no police complaint has been filed against Ghag after the incident.

Ghag had walked up to the Navghar Police Station a day after the incident and informed the on-duty police officers about the murder. Following the confession, the cops arrested Ghag under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and produced him before the Thane court. The accused remains in police custody.