Thane, Dec 1 (PTI) A court in Maharashtra"s Thane district has sentenced a 30-year-old man to imprisonment for life for killing his wife and destroying evidence. Additional sessions judge G P Shirsat on Tuesday found Hasim Siraj Mandal, a resident of Navi Mumbai, guilty under section 302 (murder) and other relevant provisions of the IPC. The judge sentenced him to imprisonment for life and also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him. The prosecution, led by additional public prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale, informed the court that the accused, who was a vegetable vendor, lived with his wife in Shirvane village. The accused was addicted to playing cards and alcohol, and often beat up his wife Rehana, who worked as a bar girl. On April 21, 2011, the victim returned from her brother"s place to Shiravane and two days later, her body was found in her house, which was locked and the accused was untraceable. The accused"s defence claimed that the deceased was not his wife and his name was not Hasim Mandal. The court noted that the accused had tried to hide identity by submitting his birth certificate and marriage certificate. But the list of documents and bail papers had clearly showed the name of the accused as Hasim Mandal. PTI COR ARU ARU