Officers investigating the murder of Priyanka Bajaj at her Manoharpukur Road home in south Kolkata on Saturday said she had a fight with husband Arvind over the keys to a locker that contained silver utensils.
Arvind had allegedly killed his wife on Saturday night and also inflicted injuries on their daughter.
Arvind, 47, has purportedly told police that he was “not a professional killer” and that whatever he did was in a “fit of rage”.
He had called the police himself by dialling 100 and told them about the attacks on his wife and daughter.
Priyanka’s alleged refusal to hand the keys to the locker containing silver utensils apparently enraged her husband, the police said.
Arvind, who has told the police that he had been unemployed for the last two years, was engaged in his father-in-law’s business but allegedly stopped going there, the police have learned.
Investigators said Arvind had used a kitchen knife to stab Priyanka. He also allegedly ended up hitting their 18-year-old daughter when she tried to rescue her mother. “The couple had a fight over a bunch of keys. The family’s silver utensils were kept inside a locker that had two locks. One of the keys was with Priyanka. Their daughter said today that Priyanka was reluctant to hand the keys to her husband because she feared her husband would sell off the silver utensils,” said an investigator.
The building on Manoharpukur Road where he lived with his wife and daughter in an apartment The Telegraph
“Priyanka’s family, however, is alleging that it was a pre-planned murder, citing the worsening relationship between her and her husband,” the officer said.
As Bajaj was unemployed for the last two years, Priyanka had started baking to support the family.
The police said they had learnt that as Priyanka’s income was inadequate to sustain the family of three, her father used to bear part of the family’s expenses, including the education of the couple’s daughter.
The 18-year-old girl, who was admitted to SSKM Hospital on Saturday night, was shifted out by relatives on mother’s side on Sunday.
The police said they were in the process of recording statements of the relatives of the deceased, neighbours on Manoharpukur Road and the family’s friends.
Arvind, who has been charged with murder of his wife and attempt to murder of his only daughter, was produced in a city court on Sunday and remanded in police custody.