Husband arrested for killing Jharkhand actress Riya Kumari in West Bengal

A man was arrested for allegedly killing his wife, Jharkhand actress Riya Kumari, after he had told the police that she was killed by a group of robbers on National Highway 16 while they were on their way to Kolkata.

Howrah (WB): A day after Jharkhand actress Riya Kumari was shot dead on a National Highway, her husband was arrested for allegedly murdering her on Thursday. Riya Kumari, who goes by the screen name of Isha Aliya, died of a bullet injury on National Highway 16 in West Bengal's Howrah district in the early hours of Wednesday.

She was heading to Kolkata along with her husband Prakash Kumar and two-year-old daughter when she was shot dead in front of her child, the police officials informed. Prakash, in an attempt to hide his crime, had himself reached out to the police, and informed them that she was killed by a group of robbers who attacked them when he stopped the car to relieve himself near Mahishrekha in the Bagnan police station area.

Police conducted an interrogation on the basis of a complaint lodged by Riya Kumar's family on Wednesday night and arrested Prakash. He has been booked under sections 302 (murder), 201 (giving false information), 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), and various sections of the Arms Act, police said. A hunt is on for other suspects involved in the case, they said.

Riya Kumari, a native of Hazaribag in Jharkhand, was a popular face in Nagpuri music videos on YouTube, besides acting in a few Nagpuri films. Known to be very soft-spoken in the film industry, she lived in Ranchi's Morabadi area.

The husband, who identified himself as a producer, told the police that a gang of three men attacked him at around 6 am, trying to rob his belongings. When his wife rushed to rescue him, they shot her and fled the spot immediately. He also told police that he took his wife to the vehicle and drove about 3 km in search of help. When he saw some people along the highway in Kulgachia-Pirtala, he narrated the incident to them.

These locals helped Kumar take his wife to the SCC Medical College and Hospital in Uluberia where doctors declared her brought dead, police said.