A man slit the throat of his wife with a machete at a family court in Karnataka where the two had gone to attend a counselling session after they filed for divorce. The man tried to escape the scene but was caught by bystanders and handed over to the police. The woman was rushed to the hospital where she died during treatment.

At the counselling session, the couple had agreed to bury their differences and reunite to save their marriage of seven years.

But later, Shivakumar attacked his wife, Chaitra, when she stepped out after one-hour counselling at the Holenarasipura family court in Hassan district. He followed her to the washroom and slit her throat with a machete, leaving her bleeding profusely. He was overpowered by bystanders when he tried to flee after committing the crime.

Shivakumar has been charged with murder and police officials are investigating how the man managed to sneak the weapon inside the court complex.

“The incident happened on the court premises. We have him in our custody. We have seized the weapon he used to commit the crime. We will investigate what transpired after the counselling session, and how he managed to get the weapon inside the court. Was this a premeditated murder, we will have the details during the course of the investigation,” Hariram Shankar, a senior police official said.