Every couple bickers once in a while, but for this dentist and his 36-year-old wife, it took a grisly turn when a financial disagreement early morning on Sunday ended in her getting stabbed to death.
To make matters worse, their four-year-old was sleeping in the next room. The final twist of the knife, however, was that three hours after the stabbing, Dr Umesh Babole (38) himself called the Shivaji Park police and informed them that he had killed his wife.
Dr Babole runs a clinic in Jogeshwari east and lived with his wife and son in Kohinoor Towers, Matunga. On Sunday morning, he reportedly had a particularly nasty dispute with Tanuja at 6.30 in the morning that spiraled out of hand.
A police officer from the Shivaji Park police said, "The wife and husband had frequent arguments. She had been living at her parents' residence and had come to be with her husband on Saturday, but on Sunday morning, the argument between the two turned into a heated one. He then took a knife and stabbed her several times which led to her death."
After killing her, Babole just sat by the body, lying in a pool of blood, for three hours before calling the cops at 9.30 am. They then questioned him over the phone on his location and reached the spot immediately. Babole was arrested on the spot and the knife used to kill Tanuja was also recovered from his possession.
Meanwhile, one resident of the building said, "We did not hear any commotion between the two. They rarely spoke to the residents of the building and only greeted us with a smile when we saw them around. We came to know about the incident only after the police reached their house."
The couple has been living there since they got married seven years ago.
Gangadhar Sonawane, senior police inspector of Shivaji Park police said, "The body of the victim was sent to Sion Hospital where she was declared dead. During the course of investigations, we also found that about eight months ago, Tanuja, who worked with a private firm in Bandra, had filed a domestic violence case against her husband, which is sub-judice in a court."
DCP zone V, Paramjit Singh Dahiya said, "He has been arrested under section 302 of the IPC. He was also produced in a court on Sunday evening and sent to police custody. The matter is being investigated further."