A small request for 10 more minutes to serve tea got a woman beheaded by her husband in Bhojpur village of Modinagar in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad on Tuesday morning.
Dharamveer, a daily wage labourer, was irked after his wife said a cup of tea would take some time, a Times of India report said, adding that an argument erupted over the same, amid which Dharamveer brought out a sword and allegedly hacked his wife from behind.
Dharamveer's wife, Sundari, died due to the attack.
DCP (rural) Vivek Yadav said Sundari woke up around 6 am and was making tea in the kitchen. Dharamveer woke up a few minutes later and asked for a cup of tea, Yadav said. "The couple's four children [three boys and a girl] were asleep in another room," TOI quoted Yadav as saying.
Dharamveer asked for tea again after five minutes and went to the makeshift kitchen on the terrace, where his wife told him it would take 10 more minutes. "He got angry when his wife told him it would take another 10 minutes for the tea to get ready and kicked the utensils away," Yadav said.
Dharamveer rushed downstairs only to return with a sword and hacked Sundari from behind, the officer said.
Their kids woke up to Sundari's cries and rushed to the terrace to save her, Yadav said and added that Dharamveer swished the sword at them too after which they went back to their room in fear.
Soldier, the couple's son, called the police and revealed that he would often pick up fights over tea. "He had a habit of drinking tea at least 5-6 times a day. If my mother refused to make tea so many times or took more time than expected, he would shout at her. But I had never seen him hitting my mother. We were in shock when we saw her body on the terrace, blood trickling out of the wounds," the report quoted Soldier as saying.
Police said Dharamveer sat crying beside the body until cops reached the spot. He was arrested and the body was sent for an autopsy. An FIR was registered against Dharamveer on the basis of complaint by Sundari's family under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Yadav said Dharamveer was produced in court and remanded in judicial custody.
