Indian woman accused of killing husband in US goes on trial

A 27-year-old Indian-origin woman, accused of killing her husband by setting him on fire two years ago, faces life sentence as her trial began in the US state of Texas.
Shriya Biman Patel's trial began yesterday in Austin, Texas, with prosecutors accusing her of luring her husband into the bathtub for a massage, dousing him with gasoline and then setting him ablaze before shutting him in the bathroom.
Bimal Patel, 29, died at the burn center of the San Antonio Military Medical Center, nearly five months after the April 17, 2012, incident.
Shriya stands charged with capital murder, arson with intent to cause bodily injury or death and aggravated assault.

She faces a life sentence in prison without parole if convicted, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
In opening statements, prosecutors said they did not know the reason Shriya had chosen to kill her husband so horrifically but suggested she likely did not love him as their marriage had been arranged.

Defense lawyers put forward another version, stating that Bimal Patel wanted to commit suicide and forced his subservient wife to help.
Assistant District Attorney Jim Young said Bimal Patel, who had been born in India, "grew up basically an American kid" in Amarillo.
He went to Texas Tech and moved to Austin, where he became involved in business, but his father was a traditionalist and had pushed him to seek a partner through an arranged marriage service in India, the prosecutor said.

Through this service, he submitted a resume and eventually met Shriya Patel, Young said. The two married, but it took about a year for her to get her passport to come to the US, and she had only been in the country a week when she decided to kill her husband, the prosecutor said.
Defense lawyer Joe James Sawyer told jurors that at the heart of the case, they would find "an unhappy man who decided to leave his life in the most hideous way possible.