Ex-army man hacked to pieces by wife, lover in UP’s Ballia; 4 arrested

A 44-year-old woman, with the help of her lover and two others, allegedly hacked her ex-army soldier husband to six pieces in a village here, police said on Tuesday.

The accused dumped the body parts in different locations to conceal the identity of the victim.

The incident came to light on Saturday with the discovery of severed hands and legs, wrapped in a polythene, in a field near Khareed village under Sikandarpur police station.

The victim was identified as Devendra Kumar, a 62-year-old retired Army man, police said.

Maya Devi, his wife, tried to mislead the investigation by filing a missing person complaint on May 10 at the Ballia City Kotwali police station.

Things took a dramatic turn when her daughter, Ambli Gautam, testified against Maya Devi and accused her of killing her father.

Based on the complaint, Maya was booked for murder and arrested.

Ballia Superintendent of Police Omveer Singh told reporters that Maya confessed to killing her husband with the help of her lover, truck driver Anil Yadav, and two others, Mithilesh Patel and Satish Yadav.

Mithilesh  was arrested on Monday, while Anil and Satish were nabbed on Tuesday.

According to police, the group killed Devendra inside his home at Bahadurpur locality and then cut the body into six parts, severing both arms, legs, and the head, before dumping the pieces at separate locations.

At Maya’s instance, police recovered the torso from a well at Khareed Darauli village.

On Tuesday, during a vehicle check near Town Polytechnic in Parikhara, police accosted Anil and Satish, who fired gunshots at the team. Police in a retaliatory fire shot Anil in the leg. He is recuperating in the district hospital.

A country-made pistol, a spent cartridge, and a live round were recovered from him, and from Satish.

The SP said Maya orchestrated the murder as she had an affair with Anil.