Bihar Horror: Bleating Goats Unravel Woman’s Murder; Husband Arrested For Slitting Wife's Throat

Patna: The goats were bleating incessantly. But this time it was for a real complaint. They were thirsty and hungry, and the noise led to the unravelling of a woman’s murder allegedly by her husband. She owned the animals and used to feed them every morning and evening.

The villagers of Alinagar under Suryagarha police station area in Lakhisarai district, around 150km southeast of the state capital, were wondering on Wednesday why they had not seen 45-year-old Sahodari Devi since morning. She was a gutsy, talkative woman who liked to enquire about the well-being of all and sundry.

They asked her husband, Nageshwar Bind alias Nago Bind, about it. He told them that she had gone to visit her parents and would come back in a couple of days. However, as the day progressed, Sahodari’s goats started bleating in thirst and hunger. Their constant bleating made the villagers apprehensive about something being wrong. To add to it, she had not informed them about any plan to visit her parents anytime soon.

As their suspicions grew, they approached Nageshwar and enquired about his wife. It was already evening by then. He acted normally, then locked his house and tried to leave, making up an excuse about work. A few villagers asked him to contact her or her parents-in-law over the phone. When he evaded doing so, they caught him and informed the police.

“On getting the information about the missing woman on Wednesday night, officials from the Suryagarha police station went to the village and searched for her. They could not find any trace of her. But when they questioned Nageshwar, he broke down and confessed to killing his wife and burying her inside the house,” Lakshisarai superintendent of police (SP) Prerna Kumar said.

The police searched for her body. Nageshwar had dug the uncemented floor of a room in his house that was used to keep cattle, goats and buried it there. Only the feet of the deceased woman were outside.

Sahodari’s body was taken out and sent to the Sadar Hospital (district hospital) for postmortem. An FIR was registered against Nageshwar on the basis of a complaint submitted by the deceased's brother. The accused has been arrested, while further investigations are going on in the case.

Sources said that the couple had gone to offer prayers at the nearby Chandika Sthan Temple on Wednesday morning. They returned home, and Sahodari prepared chicken curry and rice. Both of them ate together. She slept after eating while Nageshwar consumed liquor. He became drunk and killed her (Sahodari) by slitting her throat with an axe and stabbing her face and hands several times with a knife. The goats were continuously bleating as Sahodari was dead, and they did not get food and water.

“The accused got married to Sahodari in 2007, but has had no children till now. This led to fights between them almost on a daily basis. They had a fight on Wednesday also. This led to Sahodari’s murder,” Prerna said. The Lakhisarai SP added that the police will make efforts for a speedy trial in the court as the offence was a serious one.