Indian-origin gay kills wife to hide sexual orientation

LONDON: An Indian-origin gay bank worker allegedly strangled his wife and burnt her body months after marrying her to hide his homosexuality, a British court has heard.

Jasvir Ram Ginday, 29, attacked Varkha Rani at their home in Walsall in Midlands with a metal pipe from a vacuum cleaner. He burnt her body in a garden incinerator but told a neighbour he had set fire to "general rubbish", Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Ginday admits manslaughter but denies murder.

Rani, 24, married Ginday in India in March last year and moved to the UK to live with him in August after being granted a visa, the court heard.

But Ginday had told a friend he was attracted to men as early as 2008, according to prosecutor Deborah Gould.

About a month before Rani's death on September 12 last year, someone at their home made an internet search for incinerators, she said, adding Ginday initially told police his wife had walked out on him after using him to gain entry to the UK.

Gould said: "His ultimate intention, the Crown suggests, was to play the role of victim, safe in the knowledge that he could rely upon his married status as a permanent excuse for never having to have another relationship with a woman."

Besides manslaughter, Ginday has admitted perverting the course of justice by lying to police, BBC reported.