In a dramatic incident, a woman was saved in the nick of the time from the clutches of her husband intent upon killing her, at Choudhary
Bhavan in Juni Sukrawari on New Year's Eve. The woman's landlady, Nisha Choudhary, and her family members were prompt in raising an alarm and informing the victim's families and the cops on noticing the escalating domestic dispute. Charlie commandos from Sakkardara police station arrived just in time to ensure that the 32-year-old lady was not murdered by her mentally disturbed husband.
A bloodied Renuka Choudhary had almost collapsed when policemen rescued her from her husband Hariram, 35, who seemed to be in a murderous mood following a domestic feud involving money matters. The bike-borne Charlie constables - Umashankar Pal, Pancham Samariya, Ramnath Choudhary and Rajesh Meher - were at their wits end when they reached the premises at 9.45pm. Peeping through a window, they saw Renuka being strangled by her husband.
The cops, who had been dispatched by the control room after it was alerted by Nisha, initially tried to dissuade Hariram. However, when the cops realised that he was too engrossed in the act to pay heed to them, they broke the door and barged into the house.
"She (Renuka) seemed to be almost unconscious on the floor. Her husband was sitting on her chest and was throttling her with a piece of cloth. We didn't have much time and had to do something drastic. We broke the door open and pounced on the husband to release the woman from his stranglehold," said Pal.
He added that senior officials too were informed about the incident and they rushed there to supervise. Senior inspector Vineet Joshi, in-charge of Sakkardara police station, reached the site and also informed the adjoining Kotwali police station to send their vehicle immediately.
Renuka had been initially beaten with a stick and then her head was banged repeatedly on the wall. Her cries for help alerted Nisha, who had some visitors at home. She rushed out to look into the matter and the sight of Renuka drenched in blood left her speechless. She immediately informed the cops and Ranjit Sahu, Renuka's brother, about the incident. Sahu, who stays nearby, also reached there in no time."
"We had already informed the police about the incident. But Hariram was not responding to our repeated knocks. We were waiting for the cops to arrive. They reached without any delay," said Nisha, adding that the couple had been staying in the premises for around a year.
A distraught Sahu tried to bring his sister back to consciousness, however he failed. The police immediately ferried her to the Government Medical College and Hospital.
It was learnt that the couple, married for around seven years, had a five-year-old son, Ved, who was at his maternal grandmother's (Meera Sahu) place. "My son-in-law (Hariram) often suffers from a strange psychic disorder. It is during such troubled phases that he turns violent and thrashes my daughter. Initially we felt that our daughter was happy in her marriage," said Meera seated beside Renuka, who was recuperating at GMCH. "She had merely asked for money to run the house," said Meera, adding that Hariram had been assaulting her since the last few days over trivial issues.
Meanwhile, Sakkardara police have handed over the case to Kotwali police, who have slapped charges of attempt to murder against Hariram, who is already cooling his heels behind bars. Hariram has also been booked for mentally and physically harassing his wife.