A Birmingham student murdered his wife with a baseball bat in a “planned and premeditated” attack, a jury has heard.
Anurag Johri, a PhD student at the University of Central England (UCE), bludgeoned his wife to death with a baseball bat he had brought just a day earlier, Birmingham Crown Court was told.
His body of his wife, Deepti Anurag, 29, was found at the university campus in November last year. A post mortem revealed she had died from head injuries.
Johri had later attempted to commit suicide but was found by police and rushed to hospital.
The court was told Anurag bludgeoned his wife to death because he could not accept that she had become financially independent and had left him.
He has admitted the manslaughter of his wife but has denied murdering her.
Gareth Walters, prosecuting, told the court Johri had pre-planned the murder after buying a baseball bat a day before the murder. He had also, the court heard, logged onto Google to try and search for tips on killing with a baseball bat and not getting caught.
Mr Walters told the court that on the day of the murder Johri visited his wife at the business school on UCE campus where she worked.
He hid a recording device before returning with a bag of presents and the baseball bat.
He waited until she was alone before entering the room she was in with the bag of presents. After a short conversation between them he left, only to return later with the baseball bat which he had hid in a room opposite.
“In short he beat his wife with the baseball bat over the head from which she died,” said Mr Walters.
CCTV cameras had captured Johri in the moments leading up to the murder while the recording device left by the defendant had recorded sounds including Mrs Anurag’s screams.
Johri had dragged his wife’s body under a desk before fleeing and eventually attempting to commit suicide that night.
Mr Walters continued: “The prosecution case in short is that when his wife left him and then became more and more independent of him he could not stand it.
He described Johri as the “domineering partner” in the relationship, adding, “this was a man prepared. He had planned all this. This was a man who knew precisely what he was doing, who was in control of his actions. There was premeditation behind this killing.”
The court was also told Mrs Anurag had confided to other members of staff about problems she was having with her estranged husband.
The trial continues.
