Jaipur, 19 August

A woman and her lover were arrested in connection with the murder of her husband in Kheirathal Tijara district here, police said on Tuesday.

Laxmi Devi, the wife of Hansram, and her lover Jitendra Sharma, the son of the married couple's landlord, were nabbed Monday night, they said.

The two, who had decamped after dumping Hansram's body in a plastic tank, confessed to the crime during questioning, police said.

The incident that took place in the Kishangarhbas Police Station area came to light on Sunday.

Superintendent of Police Manish Chaudhary said the two were detained from a brick kiln in Alwada village of Alwar district.

"Initial investigations indicate that Laxmi and Jitendra plotted the murder in a bid to conceal their affair. The victim, Hansram, was killed on the night of 15 August. The body was later found inside a blue plastic drum on the roof of their rented accommodation," he said.

Laxmi had borrowed the drum from her landlord, saying she needed it to store water.

The couple's three children, whom Laxmi and Jitendra had taken away with them, were restored to their grandfather, the SP said.

'Blue drum' became an emblem of marital violence, and supplied content to a rash of memes earlier in the year when a merchant navy officer was found dead in a blue plastic drum covered with dry cement in Meerut.

The body of Saurabh Rajput, 35, was dismembered and dumped in the drum, allegedly by his wife Muskan Rastogi, 28, and her lover, Sahil Shukla.