Man who killed wife and stored body in fridge gets life term

The district court here today sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing his wife and then storing her dismembered body inside a refrigerator three years ago.

District and Sessions Judge Mridula V K Bhatia awarded life sentence to Girish Pote (38) for killing his 33-year-old wife Madhuwanti Pathak, who was born and brought up in France and held a French passport.

"You will remain in prison not for 14 years but till your biological end. I have not given death to you," the judge said in a packed courtroom.

The judge, while convicting Pote yesterday, had observed that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt the "gruesome" murder by the accused.
 

The accused moved an application, seeking pardon and told the court that he was remorseful and that leniency should be shown.

According to additional public prosecutor (APP) Buleshwar Hinge, Madhumati and Pote got married on June 20, 2011. They have a child who is two-year-old now. Madhumati's mother, a musician, had married an Indian and in 2009 returned to France where she died.

Pote worked as a sales manager in a garment's showroom but was jobless for six months before the incident took place. The couple, who lived in the flat that belonged to the victim's mother, often had quarrels on several issues.

"Madhuwanti wanted to go back to France after selling the property in Mumbai. During investigation, Pote revealed that his wife disliked India and wanted to take the money and fly back to France. But he had opposed the idea, leading to frequent fights between them," the APP had said.

Four days prior to the incident, the child was sent to a relative's house in Thane. On the day of the incident, Pote convinced Madhuwanti that he would allow her to go back to France. Later, he went to a mall and bought a packet of knives, Hinge said.

After returning home, he killed her. However, he could not take the body out of the flat as the building had CCTV cameras installed in the lobby and the lift.