Konnagar: Subhalogna Chakrabarty, who was shot dead allegedly by her husband in front of her parents on Thursday night, had filed a divorce petition, police said.

"Husband Sultan Ali was reluctant to divorce her," an officer probing the case said. "Sultan surrendered to the police after firing the 35-year-old."

Sultan, in his late 30s, allegedly barged into her in-laws' house in Hooghly's Konnagar while Subhalogna was watching TV with her parents, Tushar and Subhra, around 8pm on Thursday.

The police said he slapped Subhalogna before pulling out his revolver and shooting her. He also hit her parents with the butt of the revolver when they tried to stop him.

Police sources said Sultan, a dealer in building materials, had been arrested twice before based on Subhalogna's complaints.

He was out on bail.

Subhalogna and Sultan had married in March 2014 keeping her parents in the dark. "She had been trying to come out of the relationship," an officer said quoting her father.

She had filed a divorce suit towards the end of last year but Sultan was contesting it.

Sources said Subhalogna's father had found a match for her, a bank executive from Shyambazar, and the family was preparing for their wedding in November.

"Sultan got to know about this and tried to dissuade the executive from marrying Subhalogna. He also tried to convince Subhalogna's parents that their daughter would be happy with him. When everything failed, he decided to kill the woman," an officer said.

During last year's Puja, Sultan had allegedly turned up at Subhalogna's house and created trouble, forcing the family to contact the police.

Officers said Sultan was close to Subhalogna's younger brother, who works in Kuwait.