MUZAFFARNAGAR: A 26-year-old man from Meerut was struck 17 times with an axe allegedly by his wife’s lover over an “illicit affair” at Muzaffarnagar’s Budhana area on Saturday. Police said Talib with “deep cut wounds all over his body” died at hospital and the attacker Aasim, 25, was held after a brief encounter on Sunday.A neighbourhood CCTV captured the chilling attack in which Aasim could be purportedly seen raining blows with the sharp-edged farm axe (gandasa) on Talib in broad daylight after an altercation. According to locals, Talib, a welder based in Gujarat, had come to his wife’s parental home in Budhana on Aug 4 after the latter called him from his work to attend to an “urgent” matter.An FIR was registered against Aasim and Talib’s wife Meena under BNS sections 103 (murder) and 61-2 (criminal conspiracy). In his complaint, Talib’s brother, Aqil, stated that Meena had conspired to kill her husband.Budhana’s circle officer Gajendra Pal Singh said, “Aasim was absconding, and police learnt on Sunday that he was about to travel from Mandawada towards Luhasana village.”According to police, seeing the cops, Aasim tried to hide in a cane field and then opened fire at the men in uniform with the intention of fleeing. A bullet struck his leg after the police team retaliated in self-defence. He was admitted to a health facility in Budhana.Aasim confessed during questioning and the farm axe was recovered along with a .315-bore country-made pistol, police added.
