Bengaluru: A man who murdered his wife over her alleged illicit affair and later cooked up a story that she committed suicide because she was upset with him for not taking her on a jolly ride, has been arrested by the police.

Vijayalakshmi, a 23-year-old woman from Byatarayanapura was married to Narayana Reddy, who runs a transport business. She was working as a receptionist in a private women’s care hospital in Sahakara Nagar.

The incident took place on Wednesday, when a quarrel over the her alleged extra-marital affair led to Reddy slitting her throat.

Later, Reddy informed the police about his wife’s ‘suicide’ and cooked up a story that they had a party with their friends at home on Wednesday. After consuming liquor along with their family members and friends, Vijayalakshmi asked Reddy to take her for a ride on his bike. Reddy told the police that he convinced her that it was not safe to ride the bike under the influence of alcohol and also told her that they may get into trouble if the police catch him as he had not renewed the insurance of his motorcycle.

He claimed that she quarreled over the issue and upset over this, she locked herself inside a room and ended her life by slitting her throat with a kitchen knife in the early hours.

He also claimed that he had gone out for a while and after returning home, knocked the door repeatedly. When there was no response, he grew suspicious and alerted her parents who live nearby. Vijayalakshmi’s father Govindappa came to the house and found her body lying in a pool of blood after they broke open the door.

A police officer said that based on Reddy’s complaint, they had registered a case of suicide. “Later, we found his behaviour to be suspicious and took him into custody for interrogation. When he was grilled, he confessed that he had killed his wife as she had an illicit affair. We are investigating further”.

Police said Reddy slept in the hall for about six hours after the murder to make sure she was dead. He then locked the bedroom door from inside and came out from a passage leading to the kitchen and alerted neighbours about her ‘suicide’.

The couple has a three-year-old son, Diganth.