A horrifying incident claimed the life of a 36-year-old man who received a blow on the nose from his wife when he refused to take her to Dubai for her birthday celebrations. The instance happened on 24 November afternoon in Wanawadi’s upscale Ganga Satellite Housing Society in Pune.
The deceased Nikhil Khanna was a businessman in the construction industry and had a love marriage with Renuka Jakhar Khanna (36 to 38 years old) six years ago. They were living with his parents. He was taken to the Sassoon Hospital after the incident and died there while receiving medical attention. The cops have taken the accused woman into custody.
The cops reported that Jakhar Khanna wanted to celebrate her birthday on 18 September in Dubai, but her husband Nikhil Khanna could not fulfil this wish. As a result, she was furious with him. Then on their wedding anniversary on 5th November, she was not happy with the celebrations, as she was not given expensive gifts, and had a fight with him over it. Moreover, she wanted to attend her niece’s (brother’s daughter’s) birthday celebrations in Delhi in December, but Nikhil didn’t give a favourable response, angering her further.
The altercation escalated on Friday and it led to a clash between the two. During the fight at around 1.30 pm, Renuka punched her husband in the face which resulted in his death. The impact of the punch was so hard that Nikhil’s jaw broke, some teeth fell out and he fell to the ground due to the force of the impact. He also lost his consciousness. She attempted to rouse him from his unconscious state in a panic, but could not. His parents were not present there at the time.
She then called her father-in-law and he rushed home. He dialled for help, took his son to the hospital and reported the event to the police. The woman has been apprehended by the police pending further inquiry after they filed a complaint against her under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (punishment for murder).
Police stated, “The incident occurred on Friday afternoon. As per the primary investigation, it has been revealed that the couple had a fight because Nikhil did not take Renuka to Dubai to celebrate her birthday and did not give her expensive gifts on her birthday and anniversary. Renuka was also upset with Nikhil for not giving a favourable response to her wish to go to Delhi to celebrate the birthdays of some relatives.”
However, they suspect that she might have attacked him with a blunt object and have been intoxicated. “We suspect that Renuka was under the influence of alcohol. It could be a hard punch or an assault by a blunt object. The blood may have accumulated in the air channel and blocked breathing. We are investigating the matter,” informed Sanjay Patange, senior police inspector at Wanwadi police station. He added that they were awaiting the post-mortem report.
The police officer said that they could not obtain Renuka’s version of the events as she is not in a mental state to talk. At present she has been kept in local up.
The victim is a realtor who is also the owner of a school in Nana Peth and his father, Pushkaraj Khanna is a doctor. Pushpraj Khanna said that his son married Renuka in November 2017. It was a love marriage but the couple used to quarrel often which started soon after the marriage.
“We used to counsel them but Renuka’s behaviour did not change. She used to fight with the domestic workers as well which had made it difficult for us to retain any house help,” Dr Pushpraj said in his complaint. He added that they had a physical fight on the day of the anniversary on 5th November too.
“They marked their wedding anniversary on November 5 but she was unhappy as Nikhil did not give her a gift to her liking. She had assaulted him at that time as well. We had managed to pacify them,” Pushpraj said in the complaint. According to the victim’s father, the matter reached a peak over the woman’s plan to go to Delhi to attend her niece’s birthday. “She was angry that Nikhil was not confirming the travel plans nor arranging her flight tickets. This was leading to fights between them,” he added in the complaint.
Dr Pushpraj said that on Friday he got a call from Renuka asking him to rush home because she had a fight with Nikhil. “I rushed home and when I was parking, I received another call from Renuka where she told me: It’s very urgent, Papa. Come quickly!’…When I entered the room, I saw that my son was lying on the floor naked and blood was coming out from his nose and mouth,” Pushpraj said in his police statement.
Dr Pushpraj said he removed the blood clots from Nikhil’s mouth and tried giving him CPR. However, as he was not getting a response, he took Nikhil to the hospital with the help of security guards, but his son was declared dead.
