Hyderabad: Businessman murders wife, former airhostess' head was smashed on the floor

Hyderabad: A businessman allegedly murdered his wife, a former airhostess, at Indira Nagar in Ramanthapur on Sunday night after the two got into an altercation. Ritu Sareen, 28, a former Jet Airways employee, died after her husband Sachin Uppal allegedly hit her head against the floor. She was declared dead by doctors when she was brought to a private hospital in Ramanthapur.

Sachin, who runs an electronic goods business in Koti, allegedly picked up a fight with Ritu as soon as he came home on Sunday night. Police officials suspect that Sachin had been torturing his wife for dowry and had attacked her for the same reason. Ritu, a native of Jamshedpur had married Sachin one and a half years ago. According to sources, a friend of the couple, who was visiting, witnessed the brutal assault. In fact Sachin asked him to leave when the friend tried to stop him.

“He (the friend) saw Ritu collapse on the floor and then Sachin asked him to leave. Sachin carried her to the bedroom and locked it from inside,” said a police official. The Uppal police booked a case under IPC section 302 (for murder) and 304 B (dowry death) as per the complaint of the victim’s mother and arrested Sachin on Monday. Police is probing if he was drunk at the time of the incident.

The incident occurred on Sunday at around 11.30 pm. “The man hit her and she collapsed. He must have also hit her head against the floor. There was only a minor external injury. She must have died of internal injuries. However, we are waiting for the post-mortem report to confirm the cause of death,” said Uppal police inspector Y. Narasimha Reddy.

Police sources said the couple’s neighbours heard sounds of quarrelling and it stopped suddenly. After she collapsed, Sachin called Ritu’s father and informed him that she was ill and needed to be taken to hospital. Ritu’s parents came home and took her to hospital, where the doctors declared her dead.

Tension mounted in the private hospital as Sachin's mother allegedly attacked Ritu’s mother, Ms Ujala, for questioning Sachin. The body was later shifted to Gandhi Hospital mortuary for postmortem. Sachin will be produced in court and sent to judicial remand soon, police said.

Ritu Sareen faced violence and rape

The family of murdered ex-airhostess Ritu Sareen stood outside the Gandhi Hospital mortuary on Monday without a clue on how to deal with her death. They had, on several occasions, tried to persuade Ritu to divorce Sachin, to escape his torture. Ritu, however, was hopeful that she could work on the relationship and things would get better. She was also concerned about her five-month-old son. “Sachin had a sadistic side which he started showing just two months after the wedding. He frequently committed marital rape even when she was nine months pregnant. He used to hit her almost every day asking for more dowry,” said Ritu’s sister, Tulika Sareen.

Sachin apparently suspected Ritu’s character and would not allow her to leave home. He would also question her about her past and insult her in different ways. His parents also used to harass her, said sources.

“Just a few weeks before her delivery Sachin hit her in front of my parents. He pushed her so hard that my mother who was near her also fell on the ground along with her. Just one day after the delivery in a private hospital at Ramanthapur he took the baby and tried to run away,” added Tulika.

Ritu’s relatives said that Sachin used different methods to torture Ritu. He made her touch his feet frequently to signal his dominance. He also used to threaten her and her family saying that he would kill them all. He constantly asked for their property to invest in his business. “Just two months after the wedding he compelled her to quit Jet Airways. She could not even serve the notice period and had to leave citing medical emergency,” said Tulika.

Ritu’s mother Ujala alleged that Sachin had called them only after she had died. She and her husband, Mr Subhash, had come to Hyderabad from Jamshedpur two weeks ago to meet their daughters.