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Worli police book Pankaja Munde’s PA for torture and abetment of wife’s suicide
The woman’s maternal uncle claimed it was not suicide but a murder conspiracy by the family. “She was a fighter and would never have killed herself,” he said. “I request CM Devendra Fadnavis to order a CBI inquiry and a videographed post-mortem of the body.” Fadnavis said he would talk only after getting the entire information
MUMBAI: The Worli police on Sunday booked state environment minister Pankaja Munde’s 30-year-old personal assistant and his sister and brother for abetting the alleged suicide of his 28-year-old dentist wife on Saturday. The woman’s doctor father alleged that his son-in-law was having an affair and subjected his wife to physical and mental torture, which led to her desperate step.
The woman’s maternal uncle claimed it was not suicide but a murder conspiracy by the family. “She was a fighter and would never have killed herself,” he said. “I request CM Devendra Fadnavis to order a CBI inquiry and a videographed post-mortem of the body.” Fadnavis said he would talk only after getting the entire information.
The deceased woman’s father, who is from Beed, told the police that his daughter, who worked at St George’s Hospital and Sion Hospital, married the accused on February 7 this year. The brother of the accused stayed with them at their Worli house.
On October 1, the woman moved to a rental place in Worli. “She used to talk to me and my wife every day and tell us that her husband would constantly argue with her over minor domestic issues. At that time, my wife and I tried to explain to her that the arguments must be stemming from his work stress,” said the father in the FIR.
On September 29, the woman sent some photographs to her father, among them a consent letter and a declaration dated November 16, 2021 from a pregnant woman in a Latur-based hospital. The woman’s husband’s name was that of the accused. After seeing the document, the father told his daughter that he was coming to Mumbai to confront her husband.
According to the FIR, the daughter told her father that her husband’s siblings knew about his affair, and her sister-in-law told her that if she did not accept it, she would arrange for her brother’s second marriage. “My wife called the sister-in-law and confronted her but she disconnected the call, saying they would take care of themselves,” the father told the police.
On October 10, his son-in-law’s birthday, the woman’s parents were asked by their frightened daughter not to come to Mumbai since her husband would be angry. But her father assured her that he would not discuss her husband’s affair with him.
“At that time, we saw the wounds on her face and neck,” he said. “She gave us vague answers first but on further probing, she told us that her brother-in-law had already told her about the affair. She said she had not taken it to heart initially but when she found the document in which her husband’s name was mentioned as the other woman’s husband, she was shattered. When she confronted her husband, he said, ‘What will you do? I am not afraid of anyone. If you tell anyone, I will kill myself and blame you in a note.’ ”
The father nevertheless joined in the accused’s birthday celebration and left for Beed at 8 pm, said the FIR. On Friday, he saw two missed calls from his son-in-law at 10.15 pm. The accused called him back on Saturday at around 6.45 pm and informed him that his daughter was “about to die by suicide”. He refused to let his father-in-law talk to her, and said he was taking her to hospital. After that, he immediately called his mother-in-law and said that her daughter’s dead body was in front of him and hung up.
The frightened parents asked one of their Mumbai-based relatives to immediately go to their son-in-law’s house. At around 8.00 pm, the relative called them and told them that their daughter’s dead body was at Nair Hospital. The parents immediately rushed to Nair Hospital where their son-in-law told them that his wife had hanged herself.
The Worli police have booked the accused husband and his siblings on charges of abetment to suicide and harassment of a married woman under Sections 108, 85 and 351 of the BNS. “We have registered the FIR and are investigating,” said an officer. DCP Krishnakant Upadhyay told HT that no arrests had been made and the investigation was underway.
In a statement, Pankaja Munde said she had told the police to conduct an impartial and thorough probe. “I have also spoken to the deceased’s father and I can understand the immense grief he is going through,” she said. “Incidents like this leave deep scars. This sudden and shocking incident has left me disturbed as well.”
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