Newlywed woman allegedly murdered by husband

Ahmedabad: A 20-year-old woman who had moved to Ahmedabad just days earlier was allegedly murdered by her husband while she slept on a terrace near Sarkhej’s Ujala Circle area in the early hours of Sunday, police said.

The victim, Rasita, succumbed to severe injuries after allegedly being attacked by her husband, Mehul Lalchand Muniya. Sarkhej police have registered a murder case and launched a manhunt for the accused.

According to the FIR lodged by the victim’s father, Rasita and Mehul had been married for about three months. On June 1, the couple, along with Mehul’s father, travelled from Rajasthan to Ahmedabad in search of work and had been employed as labourers engaged in masonry work.

Police said the family had slept on the terrace of a building in the Bharat Estate-Nilkanth Estate area after returning from work on Saturday night. Rasita and her husband were sleeping about 20 feet away from other family members.

According to the complaint, at around 4 am, Rasita’s screams alerted her father-in-law. He allegedly found her lying in a pool of blood with injuries to her neck. Despite medical intervention at the Civil Hospital, she later succumbed to her injuries, police said.

Investigators said no immediate motive for the attack had emerged. Family members told police that the assault appeared to have been unprovoked, and they were unaware of any dispute between the couple that could have led to the fatal attack.

The victim’s father, who lives in Rajasthan, reached Ahmedabad after receiving a phone call from his son-in-law’s father. Following Rasita’s death, he filed a complaint accusing Mehul of killing his daughter by attacking her with a knife while she was asleep.

Sarkhej police have booked the accused for murder and are recording statements of relatives and other efforts were underway to trace and arrest the absconding accused.