India, Feb. 19 -- For three weeks, civil contractor Prabhu Ratnakar told police and relatives that his wife, Sarojini Prabhu, 44, went missing after stepping out to a shop at Devar Hipparagi in Karnataka's Vijayapura. He joined the search and repeated his story before police dug up the courtyard of the couple's house and found her body.

Ratnakar, 46, was arrested on charges of murder, concealing his wife's remains, and filing a missing person's complaint to mislead investigators.

Police superintendent Lakshman Nimbaragi said investigators sensed early on that something was wrong. "Police suspicion proved true. He was hiding something and tried to mislead the investigators, who finally caught him."

Police said the killing followed month...