Ludhiana, Dec. 24 -- A contractual municipal corporation staff has been arrested on charges of battering his eight-month pregnant wife to death in Raja Colony, Daba area, on Tuesday, police said. The accused, Vijay Kumar, 40, reportedly tried to pass off the crime as a natural death, claiming that the woman suffered from a medical condition.

The incident marks the fourth fatal matrimonial dispute reported in the city in just three days.

According to the victim's family, Vijay was a habitual drunkard who frequently assaulted Pushpa Devi, 38, whenever she urged him to stop drinking. Pushpa and Vijay had been married for four years and she was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. The couple had a two-year-old son together, while...