Nagaon, Jan. 8: A trader decapitated his wife, a 29-year-old lecturer of Cotton College whom he courted and married four years ago, with a dao (machete) in the wee hours here this morning.
After committing the crime, Imdadul Hussain, 33, went to Nagaon sadar police station and declared that he had hacked his wife Benju (Benjir Sultana Khanam) to death and pleaded arrest. He told the police that his relations with her had soured and there were frequent clashes between them.
A police team accompanied Imdadul to his house in Aminpatty locality and recovered Benjir's body, a source in the police said.
Nagaon superintendent of police Arabinda Kalita said it was a "plain case of murder" triggered by frustration and suspicion. "It was a cold-blooded murder. Imdadul hacked her to death around 3.30am and laid the body on the floor very carefully. He then locked the door and surrendered to police two hours later," the SP said.
A resident of Aminpatty, Muktar Ansari, said, "The two frequently fought over domestic issues. Last night, too, they had an altercation, which continued till midnight. This morning, the house was locked from outside and nobody was seen there. It could be that Imdadul first tried to flee and then decided to surrender."
Benjir was doing her PhD at Gauhati University after completing post-graduation in education and clearing the National Eligibility Test (NET).
She had joined Cotton College as a lecturer four months ago. Imdadul, a graduate from a college in Nagaon, runs a shop near his residence.
Benjir's father Ismail Ali, a resident of Marangial locality, 2km from Aminpatty, said Imdadul could not accept his daughter's achievement of joining Cotton College as a lecturer.
"He was suffering from an inferiority complex as he is a small businessman and his wife was a lecturer in a reputed college. He was suspicious, which led to frequent clashes between the two. When the situation became unbearable, my daughter demanded a divorce a couple of weeks ago," Ali said.
A family member close to Benjir said there was pressure on her from Imdadul to hand over her income to his parents who reside at Moirabari in Morigaon district. Benju, however, refused to do so.
"Their married life was not satisfactory right from the beginning. Had she opted for divorce earlier, the tragedy might have been averted," the family member said.
Cotton College principal Nirada Devi told The Telegraph that Benjir had joined the college as assistant professor in October last year. According to records available with the college, she was born in 1986 and used to stay in a rented accommodation in Guwahati.
"I did not know her personally because she was very new to the institution but, according to the information I have gathered from her colleagues, she was in touch with them till yesterday. Her husband came to her department once after she joined the institution," she said.
Kalita said Benjir's body was handed over to the police this evening after post-mortem.
"We did not take Imdadul in custody as he had confessed to the crime at the time of surrender. He was produced in court from where he was forwarded to judicial custody," the police officer added.
Additional reporting by Our Staff Reporter in Guwahati
