For killing wife, farmer gets life imprisonment

Jalna, June 30: A sugarcane farmer in Jalna in Maharashtra was Saturday to life imprisonment for killing his wife with an axe.

District and Sessions Court Judge SD Tekale sentenced Lahu Gaikwad, a resident of Jamkhed in Ambad teshil here, to life in jail for killing his wife Mandabai, said Additional Government Pleader Bharat Khandekar.

The couple's seven-year-old son was the main witness, he said.

"Gaikwad had taken a loan of Rs 50,000 and wanted his wife to get money from her parents to repay it. Fed up of the pressure from Gaikwad and his father Shiva to get the money, Mandabai moved to her father's home. Gaikwad arrived there on March 21 last year and killed her with an axe," Khandekar said.

A total of 12 witnesses, including their minor son, were examined during the course of trial, he said, adding that Shiva was acquitted of the charge of torture due to lack of evidence.