November 29: Police in Punakha have detained a 26-year-old man from Gyemkha village under Teop Geog in Punakha on suspicion of killing his wife. The incident occurred on November 15.

The man and his 20-year-old wife along with their two-year-old daughter were on their way home in Gyemkha from the wife’s village in Omtekha under Limukha Geog. Both of them were said to be drunk. The couple couldn’t reach their home that night and stayed at the home of a cousin of the husband.

The husband’s cousin said it was already dark when the couple arrived in his house. He said the wife was almost unconscious. He said he did not hear her waking up or talking the next morning so he called the health worker from the BHU. He said they tried to take her to the hospital but she died before they could start the power tiller.

It has not been confirmed whether she died after she was put in the power tiller or during the night.

Another man who helped the couple and accompanied them to the house on that fateful night said he saw the wife lying flat on the ground and the husband holding their baby girl who was crying. He helped carry the baby and the couple’s bag while the husband carried the wife till the cousin’s house.

A joint preliminary investigation by the National Referral Hospital found external injuries, nasal bleeding, and multiple abrasions on face and lower back of the deceased. The team suspects she may have died from the injuries she had suffered.

The case is under police investigation.