Bhiwandi police book husband for abetment of wife’s suicide

After initially lodging an Accidental Death Report, the Narpoli police in Bhiwandi lodged an abetment of suicide case after 22-year-old suicide victim’s parents gave statement that she faced mental and physical harassment from her husband

BHIWANDI: The Bhiwandi police have booked the husband of a 22-year-old married woman who committed suicide by jumping into a creek in Bhiwandi on charges of abetment of suicide.

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The deceased has been identified as Rita Paswan, 22, who got married to the accused Manish Paswan, 32 last year in Siddharthnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

Narpoli police in Bhiwandi on July 1 received information about the body of a woman found in the Gundavli creek and rushed to the spot. They took her to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital for post-mortem. The body was decomposed posing a difficulty in her identification. She was later identified by her family based on a tattoo on her hand.

Police said that the statement of the victim’s father stated said that she faced physical and mental harassment from her husband who demanded a gold chain and ring, forcing her to end her life.

“During the investigation, we learned that the accused had moved to Bhiwandi from his native place in Uttar Pradesh about five to six months ago, and lived with his wife at Mankoli village near Datt temple in Bhiwandi. He worked as a driver. He used to drink liquor and had heated arguments with the victim over gold ornaments,” said K R Patil, Investigation officer, Narpoli Police Station. He added, “The victim’s father came to know about the accused’s demands, tried to intervene, and convince him to stop this.”

Police sources said that during the preliminary probe, they learned that the victim was missing since June 26. The accused had not lodged any missing complaint at the concerned police station and meanwhile, went to his native place. On July 1, the victim’s father, who works in a scrap shop in Bhandup in Mumbai, approached the police station with a missing complaint.

Narpoli Police said that a case was lodged under Section 306 (Abetment of Suicide) against the accused. The accused has not been arrested so far.