KANPUR: Police arrested a leather trader from Jajmau KDA Colony late on Saturday for a murder attempt on his wife, following their toddler son’s testimony.
Married in 2020, the couple had frequent tiffs allegedly over the trader’s frequent dowry demands. The woman was found badly burned at their house on January 29 while the trader had tried to pass the incident off as a case of housefire.
However, when the child, two and a half years old, was asked to go to his father later, he refused, saying, “Papa will set me blaze too.”
The woman’s in-laws allegedly pressured her to tell police that housefire caused by a mosquito repellent incense stick caused the burns, threatening to harm her and her child if she refused.
Under duress, she provided this account to both police and magistrate. The woman, in hospital with burn injuries, has now sought protection for her child, citing ongoing threats from her in-laws.
The police filed a report on Friday and launched an investigation. During their interaction with her son, his response startled them. The toddler, speaking with a lisp, expressed his refusal to return to his father, stating that his father burned his mother. Subsequently, the trader was arrested.
DCP (East) Shrawan Kumar Singh said, “A report has been filed in this case, and the accused has been arrested. Our investigation is on. The victim’s statements will be recorded for further action.”