Jharkhand teacher strangles wife, 2 children to death, dumps bodies in well over dowry; 5 arrested

A school teacher has been arrested for allegedly strangulating his wife and two children to death and dumping their bodies in a roadside well in Jharkhand's Palamu district over dowry-related issues, police said on Sunday. The incident took place in Rajhara village in Nawa Bazar police station area, they said.

A dowry-murder case has been registered and the accused and his four other family members have been arrested, Bishrampur SDPO Surjit Kumar said. The accused school teacher, Ashish Pandey, had even filed a missing complaint so that the police don't suspect him, he said.

However, during interrogation, Pandey confessed to killing his wife Soni Devi (25), daughter Samriddhi (5) and son Samdarshi (3) on Thursday night and dumping their bodies in a well beside National Highway 75, the officer said. Their bodies have been recovered from the well, he said.

Devi's father lodged a complaint against Pandey, his parents, elder brother and wife, alleging that his son-in-law used to physically and mentally torture his daughter ever since their marriage in 2014, demanding land as dowry in his in-laws' village, the officer added.