Husband, in-laws booked for abetting suicide of bank executive

A 36-year-old bank executive committed suicide allegedly due to harassment by her husband and in-laws demanding money and taunting her for being adopted. The husband and in-laws have been booked.

MUMBAI: The husband and in-laws have been booked for abetting the suicide of a 36-year-old private bank executive, purportedly because of the harassment faced in her matrimonial home. The police said the family used to harass the victim by demanding money for a flat and land and used to taunt her that her parents were not spending any money on her, as she was an adopted child.

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Police officials said the accused were identified as Pratik Majalkar, husband, and his parents Janardhan Majalkar and Urmila Majalkar.

According to the police, the victim, Purva Majalkar, hanged herself at her home in Bhoiwada, Dadar East on December 9.

Purva’s mother Usha Mahadik, 69, is a retired employee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and her husband Vilas Mahadik worked with the Central Bank of India, said a police officer.

In 1990, Usha and Vilas adopted five-year-old Purva from Pune, as they had no child of their own. Purva graduated and started working for a private bank as a deputy manager.

In 2021, she said she fell in love with Pratik, and the two got married.

“The family then noticed that Pratik’s family was greedy and were reluctant to accept the union, after they demanded gold and other valuables from them, but had to accept their daughter’s choice, as she was firm on marrying Pratik,” said the police officer.

“Despite the victim giving ₹10,000 every month from her salary to them, her in-laws used to demand more money to run the house. They told her that they needed money to purchase land and asked Purva to bring it from her father. They used to also harass her, and taunt her because she was adopted, her parents did not give her any dowry. Purva spoke to her parents about it but the three decided if they paid money to the in-laws they would get into the habit and will keep on demanding more money,” said the police officer.

Later, Pratik started demanding money from Purva’s parents as he had been allotted a MHADA flat in a lottery. “Purva’s parents gave two cheques of ₹2.5 lakh to her and asked her to hand them over to her in-laws and accordingly she gave one cheque of ₹2.5 lakh to her in-laws despite that they kept on troubling her,” said the police officer. “On December 9, Purva wanted to visit her father as he was being operated for a cataract, but instead the news of her death reached her parents,” the police officer added.

Based on her mother’s complaint, a case has been registered under sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 34 (common intention) , and 498 (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting a woman to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code.