Woman uses card game to murder paramour

Aug 9, 2010

In a bizarre game of death, a woman in Mumbai lured her paramour into a card game, in which one of the players is blindfolded, and bludgeoned him to death with an iron rod while he was blindfolded.


Sunita Sadanand Waghmare (30), used this ploy to murder Devidas Ghodmare (32) in Nallasopara in late July, but was arrested from a hideout in Chandrapur on Sunday, police said.

They added that Ghodmare had threatened to sell the woman to a brothel in Mumbai, which prima facie appears to be the cause behind the murder.

Ghodmare and Sunita are both residents of Chandrapur. Since the past several years, both were in love, inspite of Sunita being married. Ghodmare, however, was a bachelor.

A few years ago, Ghodmare shifted base to a site in Perne phata in Pune, where he worked with a civil contractor as a supervisor. Soon, Sunita joined him, and worked in the contractor's office, doing menial jobs.

Since his employer also had some civil works going on in Nallasopara, Ghodmare shifted base there this year, and as Sunita was alone, she also joined him. Both stayed in a chawl in Evershine Nallasopara.

Police said the duo would enter into regular tiffs over trivial issues. During one such altercation, Ghodmare threatened Sunita that he will sell her into a brothel in Mumbai if she did not stop the fights.

Also, since Sunita was a stranger in the city, Ghodmare was aware of her helplessness, said API Valmik Patil of Nallasopara police station.

On July 25, fed up with the threats, Sunita decided to get rid of Ghodmare. She lured him to play ‘Do Patti’, a card game where one player's eyes are blindfolded while the other hides the card.

Once the card is hidden, the blindfolded player is allowed to remove the blindfold, and has to search for the hidden card. In the first two games, Ghodmare won, and thus built up his confidence.

During the third game, when Ghodmare's eyes were blindfolded with a handkerchief, Sunita, who had already stolen iron rods used in construction, hit him with the rod on his head, rupturing his skull and killing him instantly.

She had also tied his hands and legs. Sunita then fled from the site.