Navi Mumbai: Man slits pregnant wife’s throat, jumps in front of goods train

NAVI MUMBAI: A resident of Uran allegedly slit his pregnant wife’s throat at home, and later jumped in front of a train, leaving their two toddlers orphaned. A financial crisis could be the motive for the deaths, said the police.
Rajukumar Rai (31), who worked for a private firm, murdered his wife, Kirandevi (26), on Tuesday evening, the police said.The couple from Bihar lived in Jasai village labour camp with their daughters aged one and two.
Rajukumar’s body was found lying on the tracks near Uran around 11.30pm on Tuesday. “He was run over by a goods train. The body was cut into two,” said senior inspector Jagdish Kulkarni of Uran police station, adding that the “mutilated” body was discovered around 11.30pm. A pair of slippers lay nearby.
The next day, the constant bawling of the couple’s daughters at their house alerted neighbours who broke the door open and found Kirandevi lying lifeless and the toddlers crying incessantly. A blood-stained kitchen knife lay nearby.
The police described the scenario as “macabre and heart-rending”. Dried wheat flour, which the woman had been kneading at the time, was caked all over her hands, said inspector Kulkarni. “Her husband possibly sidled over to where Kirandevi was seated and slit her throat.”
There was blood splattered all over, said the police. “Their two children were soaked in their mother’s blood... They must have crawled around her body all night,” said Kulkarni.
The police said a dearth of finances could be the motive. “Rajukumar had asked his employers for an advance of Rs 3,000 against his salary that day,” said an officer.
The children are now with their paternal grandfather.
Footage from cameras near the Rai home shows Rajukumar returning home around 6.30pm and leaving around 8pm. After that, nobody stepped in or out of the house, the police said.
His last call was to a friend around 8.45pm. The friend said that Rajukumar neither told him about the crime nor hinted at any intention to end his life, said the police.
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