Hazaribag (Jharkhand), Feb 10 (PTI) The former SDO of Hazaribag Sadar, Ashok Kumar, an accused in connection with the death of his wife in December last year, was on Monday forwarded to judicial custody, officials said.

Kumar was produced before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hazaribag, S Lamhe, who forwarded him to judicial custody.

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A team of police officers had apprehended Kumar, who had been absconding, from Ranchi on Sunday evening.

Earlier on January 31, a local court had rejected the anticipatory bail plea moved by him.

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Anita Devi, his wife, had allegedly set herself on fire at their official residence in Hazaribag's Lohsinghna on December 26 last year, the officials said.

Kumar was removed from the post after the incident.

An FIR had been registered against Kumar and other family members by Rajkumar Gupta, the brother of Anita Devi.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)