Autopsy of Pune-based realtor who died after his wife punched him on nose shows head trauma, say police

Pune-based realtor Nikhil Khanna (36), who died on Friday after he was injured on the nose during a quarrel with his wife, also suffered a head injury, as per primary findings of the post-mortem conducted on his mortal remains at Sassoon General Hospital on Saturday,  police said,

Khanna, a resident of Ganga Satellite housing society in Wanwadi, and his wife Renuka Jakhar Khanna (38) had an altercation at their home  when she allegedly assaulted him which ultimately led to his death, said Wanwadi Police, who are investigating the case.

Khanna, a resident of Ganga Satellite housing society in Wanwadi, and his wife Renuka Jakhar Khanna (38) had an altercation at their home  when she allegedly assaulted him which ultimately led to his death, said Wanwadi Police, who are investigating the case.

Police had earlier said that Khanna had suffered a fracture in the nose and he had profusely bled after falling unconscious on the floor. “Primary findings of the post-mortem show that he died because of a trauma to the head. He may have fallen to the floor and hit his head to the ground after receiving a blow on the face,” said Senior Police Inspector Sanjay Patange of Wanwadi Police Station. He said that police will investigate if the blow to his nose was a punch or an assault with some blunt instrument.

Police had arrested Renuka after Dr Pushpraj Khanna, her father-in-law, registered a complaint against her with Wanwadi Police.

In his complaint, Dr Khanna said that Renuka was angry with Nikhil as he did not take her to Dubai to celebrate her birthday in September and did not give her a gift to her liking on their marriage anniversary earlier this month. She was also angry as Nikhil was not confirming the travel plans nor arranging her flight tickets for her to travel to Delhi for her niece’s birthday in December, the complaint said.

Police booked Renuka under section 302 of IPC. She was produced before a magistrate on Saturday which granted the police her remand till November 28.

As per the complaint application submitted by Dr Khanna, Nikhil married Renuka in November 2017 and the couple stayed with the parents at their residence in Ganga Satellite. “It was a love marriage but the quarrels started soon after the marriage. We used to counsel them but Renuka’s behaviour did not change. She used to fight with the domestic workers as well which had made it difficult for us to retain any house help”, he said in the complaint.

Dr Khanna said that on Friday, he received a call from Renuka’s number and she asked him to rush home as she and Nikhil had a fight. “I rushed home and when I was parking, I received another call from Renuka when she told me: It’s very urgent, Papa. Come quickly!’…When I entered the room I saw that my son was lying on the floor naked and blood was coming out from his nose and mouth. ,” Pushpraj said in his statement to police.

As per him, he removed blood clots from Nikhil’s mouth and tried giving CPR. After noticing no response he took the society security guards’ help to take him to the hospital where he was declared dead.