Patna: A man from Bihar called up his wife on the mobile phone to tell her he was divorcing her after she was caught with her boyfriend in his absence.

Mekamil, who works as a casual labourer in New Delhi, parted ways with his wife on Saturday night shortly after being informed by other villagers that she had been caught with a local youth named Naved Alam in her bedroom.

The incident took place at Khatiatoli village in Kishanganj district, more than 350 kilometres east of Patna, on Saturday night but was reported in the media only on Tuesday.

Local villagers said the woman had struck up an affair with the youth while her husband was away and had been spending time with him regularly, dodging residents. However, the illicit lovers’ luck ran out on Saturday night when the woman was caught with the youth at her in-laws’ house.

People from the youth’s village who came to know about the incident gathered near his house at midnight amid a charged atmosphere between sympathisers of the two parties but local residents ensured things didn’t get out of hand. They asked the youth to present his side of the story before handing out any punishment, and his account confirmed the extra-marital affair.

When quizzed, the woman too confessed to being in love with the youth.

Local residents then called the woman’s husband in New Delhi to inform him about the incident. Stunned by the revelation, Mekamil announced his decision to divorce his wife soon after.

“Soon after being informed about his wife’s illicit affairs with her boyfriend, he [Mekamil] called up his wife over his cellphone and divorced her in the presence of local villagers,” local village council official Jafar Imam said on Tuesday.

Imam said that soon after their divorce, the villagers got the woman married to her boyfriend and sent her off with her new husband who lives in nearby Dahuabadi village in the same district. However, the woman’s in-laws did not allow her to take her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter with them.

“She is now residing with her new husband after her marriage,” said village council secretary Shannawaz Usmani.