Dubai, Sep 23 (IANS) A Dubai court has charged an unemployed Indian man with strangling his wife to death to avoid paying maintenance money after divorce.
The Indian man, 23, who is identified by initials of his name AQ, reportedly strangled his wife, identified as BA, before putting her body in a garbage bag and leaving it in the Fuqaa area March 11 this year in connivance with a Pakistani friend identified as RA, Gulf News reported Sunday.
AQ reportedly used to beat his wife and cheated on her with a Filipina with whom he had an affair.
His father said his late daughter-in-law repeatedly complained to him over the phone several times in the past.
AQ’s father said the accused knew RA for nearly three years and the two shared accommodation.
According to the report, a Bangladeshi cleaner discovered BA’s body.
Police said AQ admitted that he decided to kill BA because he could not afford to pay her maintenance money.
Prosecutors told the Dubai Court of First Instance that AQ and RA planned to murder BA in her sleep.
RA pleaded not guilty before the court Sunday.
“I did not kill the victimÂ… my confession was obtained under coercion,” RA was quoted as saying.
“The victim moved to Dubai 15 months before her death… she constantly complained over the phone that AQ used to get drunk and beat her,” AQ’s father told prosecutors.
“She asked me to find him a new job. The deceased also complained that her husband was having an affair with a Filipina, and that was the main reason behind their continuous family disputes,” he said.
“I do not doubt that the defendants could have killed BA.”
“Shortly after identifying the victim, we suspected her husband because he had left the country on the same day when the corpse was discovered. Primary interrogation led to RA’s arrest, ” a Dubai police officer said.
“The latter admitted during questioning that they strangled her,” the officer said.
However, police didn’t reveal how AQ was arrested.
Presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi adjourned the case till Oct 23.