Police: Husband Killed Wife Before Suicide

By May Sitt Paing 2 June 2017

RANGOON — The bodies of a married couple were found with stab wounds at their house in No. 14 Ward of Rangoon’s Thaketa Township on Thursday morning.

In a statement on its Facebook page, Rangoon Division Police Force said it appears Victor Raj, in his 40s, killed his wife Ma Khaing Sabel Hnin Aung, in her 30s, with a hammer and a cleaver before stabbing himself and slitting his wrists.

Photos of the bodies along with the bloodstained hammer and cleaver were posted by police on Facebook, causing social media users to question how Victor Raj could slit both wrists and stab himself with a cleaver, which has a flat blade.

According to police, Victor Raj, from India, bought the hammer and cleaver from Capital Hyper Market on Wednesday, before killing Ma Khaing Sabel Hnin Aung, who was from Burma. Their housemaid found the man’s corpse on the upper floor and the woman’s corpse on the lower floor of the two-story house, according to media reports.

Police said Victor Raj had two stab wounds and a cut in his chest, and both of his wrists were slit. Ma Khaing Sabel Hnin Aung had her throat cut and was hit by a heavy object on the left part of her skull, police added.

Social media users also questioned why there was no blood surrounding Victor Raj’s wrist wounds, and why he was found naked.

“It is not that he stabbed himself with the cleaver,” an officer of Thaketa Township police station told The Irrawaddy. “There were other knives. He stabbed himself with a sharp knife. We also found a knife that had not been unwrapped. The divisional police force will release more information.”

Victor Raj had been unemployed for several months and was heavily in debt, according to the police statement, which also said he owed his wife 5 million kyats. Victor Raj was previously the general manager of The One Bar in Bahan Township. The executive director of its parent company The One Group Co. announced through his lawyer that the company would not take responsibility for the finances of Victor Raj.

The Rangoon Division Police Force and the Criminal Investigation Department, which is investigating the case alongside the local police force, were unavailable for comment on Friday.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.