A 55-year-old woman was shot dead by her husband allegedly over delay in serving dinner at their house in Ghaziabad,Indiainfo-icon late on Saturday night. The accused, Ashok Kumar (60), was arrested on Sunday.

The crime took place around 11.45 pm on Saturday in Mansarovar Park colony in Kavi Nagar police station area. The victim, Sunaina, was rushed to the Sarvodaya Hospital in Kavi Nagar with a gunshot wound on her head. However, doctors at the hospital declared her dead on arrival. "The patient was already dead by the time she was brought to the hospital. There was no pulse on her," hospital CMO Dr Neeraj Garg told TOI.

According to police, Kumar used to ply a mini-truck, which he owned, along with his younger son Tinku (28). His elder son, Rinku (32), plies a private taxi. The police registered an FIR against Kumar in Kavi Nagar police station late on Saturday night on the basis of a complaint lodged by his son Rinku. Rinku's wife, Soni (28), and her two kids aged 7 and 4 years, were also present in the house at the time of the incidentapart from Rinku and Tinku. Rinku said that the kids were asleep in another room when the fight broke out between his parents.

"Around 9pm, my father returned home drunk and asked my mother for dinner around 11pm. A quarrel broke out between them as my mother refused to serve foodinfo-icon immediately. Infuriated over the delay, my father whipped out a gun and threatened her. I, my wife and Tinku tried to intervene. But he opened fire and the bullet hit my mother on her head. She collapsed at the spot," said Rinku.

"The accused was taken into custody and later arrested. He has confessed to the crime," said local police outpost in-charge Ajay Verma. The police have found a single spent cartridge from the house. The weapon used in the crime, a .315 bore revolver, had also been seized. "The gun seized from him is illegal and we are trying to ascertain the source from which he procured it.