Life Term for Balod Woman and Lover in Father-in-Law Electrocution

A special court has handed down life sentences to a Chhattisgarh woman and her lover for killing her father-in-law by electrocution. The case, which unfolded in Balod district, shows how a staged cycling accident was dismantled through the alertness of local residents and subsequent police investigation.

The crime occurred in Khadenadih village, which falls under the Dondiloharaa police station jurisdiction. Thirty-year-old Geeta Nirmalkar regularly went to sing devotional songs with a village group. Through this activity she got to know 25-year-old Lekhram Nishad, a music teacher from a neighbouring village, who began teaching her the harmonium.

The friendship gradually turned into a closer relationship. Lekhram's visits to the house for music lessons drew sharp opposition from Geeta's father-in-law, 63-year-old Manohar Nirmalkar. He not only objected to the visits but also hurled abuse at Lekhram.

Investigators say that this resentment led the pair to conspire against Manohar. The plan was set in motion on June 29, 2025. On the night of July 16, Manohar was given a lethal electric shock while he was asleep.

The following morning, Geeta told villagers that her father-in-law had consumed liquor, fallen from his bicycle and died. To conceal the marks on the body, turmeric was applied. When women in the village asked about the injuries, she maintained that they were caused by the fall.

Lekhram appeared anxious to perform the cremation at once. He had firewood sent to the cremation ground before news of the death spread and arranged the bier himself in the morning. He then carried the body to the Muktidham crematorium.

The villagers found his insistence unusual, particularly since he had no clear family connection to the deceased. When the cloth was removed before the body was placed on the pyre, injuries and burn marks on the face, forehead and neck were seen. Villagers informed the police immediately.

The initial postmortem report confirmed death by electric shock. Police collected call records and technical evidence and seized an electric wire, rubber gloves, a blood-stained gamchha and mobile phones.

After the investigation, a charge sheet was submitted in court. The ADJ court convicted Geeta Nirmalkar and Lekhram Nishad and sentenced them to life imprisonment around 15 months after the murder. The probe was led by then station in-charge Mukesh Singh, and special public prosecutor Ghanshyam Singh Sahu represented the state.