Indian American woman arrested for plotting husband's murder

An Indian American woman in Texas has been arrested on charges of plotting to kill her husband.

According to an affidavit filed Monday in Travis County District Court in Austin, Texas, Reena Ratilal Patel, 34, was arrested for trying to hire people to kill her husband, Texas media reported.

Patel, who lives in the Steiner Ranch neighbourhood in Austin, drove to an apartment complex in Rutland Drive in north Austin last week where she asked several people about hiring a person to "take care of" her husband.

A witness called the police around 2 p.m. Sep 4 to report that a woman, identified as Patel, came to her and said her husband had beaten her and she needed that he be "taken care of", reported Kvue News.

Another witness told police that she asked Patel: "Wait, do you mean beat him up?"

"No, permanently," Patel reportedly responded.

Patel also walked over to a group of teenagers and asked them the same thing. She allegedly offered them $4,000 to kill her husband and told them to hurry since her children would be home from school at 3.30 p.m., the Kvue News reported citing witnesses.

When police arrived at the spot and intercepted her, Patel told them that she got lost on her way to a friend's house and had stopped to ask for directions.

She also told the police that she was a dentist and has a loving replationship with her husband and denied any history of violence.

Police then went to Patel's house to talk to her husband, identified as Brij Patel. He told the officers that his wife had sent him a message saying she had two more patients to see at work and he would have to pick up the kids from school.

She also sent him a text message telling him to inform her when he left, the Kvue News report said.

When police contacted the Texas Board of Dental Examiners, they said Reena Patel has never applied or been granted a licence to practice dentistry in Texas.

Patel's husband also told police that he had recently taken out a $2 million life insurance policy, something his wife had full knowledge of.

Patel has been held on a $1 million bond and a protective order has been placed on her husband and children.

She has also been ordered to stay away from the family's home and her husband, the report said.