Raja Ram, a resident of West Delhi and a father of two minor daughters, was handed down life term for killing his neighbour Daropadi by gagging her and hitting her head with a brick.
Additional Sessions Judge Rajneesh Kumar Gupta found that Raja Ram, 42, had extramarital relations with Daropadi and killed her as his wife used to quarrel with him over the issue.
"It is evident that the accused has a motive to commit the murder of the deceased in order to restore his peaceful relation with his wife," the court noted.
The prosecution case was that on June 20, 2010, Daropadi's son Rajesh came back home from work and found his mother lying in a pool of blood with her mouth gagged with a stole.
She also had injuries on her head besides a hole in her cheek and bruises near the eyes, which appeared to be the fist marks and a blood stained brick was lying nearby, said the prosecution adding that Rajesh rushed her to the hospital where she was declared brought dead.
The victim's son was told by his neighbour Salima Begum that she had seen Ram watching TV with Daropadi just before her death.
Rajesh also deposed that a year before the murder, Raja Ram, a mason, had repaired their shelter but did not charge any fee for the same. He said Ram developed love relationship with his mother and despite objections by his (Ram's) wife, he met the victim regularly.
Ram was arrested the following day while he was still wearing blood-stained clothes. The blood on his clothes matched with the blood group of the deceased.
