Life appears so simple these days. A couple gets married, then they do not get on as well as in the beginning; they can’t stop quarrelling. And all this culminates in murder. Nisha Ramanah, 28 years old, is the latest example of a marriage that was in a bad way and finished in a dead end. Her husband, Yashodas Veeranah, confessed that he killed her in a fit of anger and buried her body in Saint-Martin cemetery when he realised what he had done.

Three weeks after Nisha was reported missing, her husband has finally admitted that he had a violent fight with her while they were out in the car. In fact, he had been in police custody for a few days before making his confession. For a long time, he had insisted that he did not kill his wife and that she died accidentally after being strangled by her own sari. But he finally confessed that, during a violent row where she made reproaches to him, he had crushed her head between his leg and the car seat. But he is adamant that she died “by accident”. The autopsy by the forensic scientist, Dr Abdool Khalik Mohungoo, revealed that death was due to strangulation.

The police went to St-Martin graveyard after hearing Yashodas’ confession and followed his instructions to find Nisha’s body. His story turned out to be true as the Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT) and the Intervention Force of the Mauritian Police dug up a decomposing body. Tests revealed that it was Nisha’s.

According to Yashodas, after he realised that his wife was dead, he was afraid he would face an accusation of murder – probably because their relatives knew that the relationship had not been going strong for the past months – and he decided to hide the body. With this in mind, he called one of his friends, Vijay Bahal, to help him. In fact, the couple had known Vijay – said to be a healer – since they were living in Vacoas.

The two men allegedly put Nisha’s corpse in the boot of the car and drove to the cemetery where there is no night watchman. They then saw a fresh grave where a body had just been buried and where the ground could be easily dug and they put Nisha’s body on top of the coffin. Other people are aid to be involved in what happened in the graveyard.

Although Yeshodas has always claimed that his wife’s death was accidental, investigators suspect foul play. They even think that it could have been premeditated. The couple had been having problems since they got married last April. Yashodas’ parents were dead against this marriage. Nisha’s parents say that her father-in-law “did not like her and did everything possible to make her go away”. Nisha often sought comfort with her mother and related how hard it was to suffer the pressure. Recently she had asked for a ‘protection order’ against her husband, who was said to beat her. In fact, she died just before the court hearing to which her husband had been convened.