PRAYAGRAJ, April 6 -- A 66-year-old farmer confessed to brutally murdering his neighbour over his wife's love affair with the victim, 70, telling police that public displays of affection had driven him to kill. Ram Lal attacked Hazari Lal, a night watchman, with an axe on April 2 at a sand and gravel site in Dhanuha village of Chaka block, Prayagraj, killing him on the spot.

Hazari Lal, a widower for over 10 years, had five sons and two daughters. He was found dead on the cot where he slept at the worksite, his body soaked in blood. His eldest son, Sonu, a daily-wage labourer, filed the murder complaint at Naini police station on April 3.

Police sent the body for postmortem examination and deployed forensic teams and a dog squad to scan...