A bureaucrat was killed by her unemployed husband at her home in Madhya Pradesh. The man even tried to hide the evidence and distract the police by lying to them about the manner of death. Manish Sharma was upset because sub-divisional magistrate SDM Nisha Napit posted in Shahpura in Dindori district, didn’t name him her nominee in her service book, insurance and bank account, police said.

He smothered her with a pillow and after that washed her blood-stained clothes to destroy all evidence. The police also found a pillow cover and bedsheet in a washing machine at the bureaucrat’s home that turned out to be a big clue in solving the case.

The police became suspcious after Napit’s sister, Nilima Napit, accused Mr Sharma of murdering her. “He used to harass Nisha for money. My sister did not have any disease. Manish has done something wrong. He even didn’t let the house help enter Nisha’s room,” she claimed.

When the police asked Mr Sharma about her wife’s sudden death, he cooked up an elaborate story: “She was suffering from a kidney ailment. She was keeping a fast on Saturday, She vomited at night after which she was given some medicine”. She didn’t wake up the next day, he claimed.

“I didn’t wake up in the morning and she didn’t have any work as it was a Sunday. I went for a walk after the maid came at 10 am. When I came back at 2 pm, she still hadn’t woken up. I tried to wake her up, gave her CPR. I called the doctor who asked me to take her to a hospital,” he claimed.

The officer’s sister did not accept Sharma’s explanation that she had a kidney illness, despite his attempts to portray it as a typical death.

She was bleeding from her mouth and nose when the hospital’s medical staff examined her. Based on her post-mortem report, witness statements, and further investigation of the crime scene, the police quickly arrested Sharma.

A reward of ₹ 20,000 was announced by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Mukesh Shrivastava, who commended the investigative team for solving the case in a day.