The police has arrested a man for killing his wife and mother of his three children on Thursday. The accused had buried her body near a pond outside his village.

The body was retrieved late on Thursday night with the help of a JCB and sent for postmortem.

The incident took place on January 25 in Fazalgarh village in Ghaziabad's Bhojpur police station area.

The accused -- identified as Dinesh Prajapati -- is a vegetable seller and had been married to the victim for around 13 years. Their three children are aged between 6 to 12 years.

On January 30, Dinesh lodged a missing complaint of his wife and told the police that his wife, Anju had left home on January 26, when he had gone to the vegetable market.

He then told his kids that their mother had gone to her maternal home.

When police investigated the matter, it was revealed that the couple had differences. The police then took Dinesh into custody, who confessed to strangling his wife upon interrogation.

He alleged that he suspected his wife of having an affair which is why when he got up to go to the vegetable market at 4 a.m. on January 25, he killed her and hid her body in another room.

Dinesh revealed that he carried the body outside the village on a tonga the next night, when his children were sleeping.

(SJ/IANS)