Andheri man held for driving wife to suicide

Mumbai: The Sahar police on Friday arrested an Andheri resident for allegedly abusing his 24-year-old wife to the point of driving her to suicide

Mumbai: The Sahar police on Friday arrested an Andheri resident for allegedly abusing his 24-year-old wife to the point of driving her to suicide.

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The accused has been identified as Satish Bansode, a resident of Sahar village in Andheri. Bansode was arrested after his wife Sandhya died by suicide in their residence on Thursday afternoon. “Her brother-in-law informed her father Datta Shirsath about her death. He approached us on Thursday night to register a complaint,” said an officer with the Sahar police station.

According to Shirsath’s statement to the police, Sandhya used to live with her parents and two brothers in Pune till 2016. In February 2016, Sandhya went missing and a complaint was registered with the Malwadi police station in Pune. In November 2017, the police tracked her down and found that she had married Bansode, and that the couple had a daughter. As Sandhya seemed to be happily married, Shirsath gave his blessings and the couple shifted to Mumbai.

“The marriage was a happy one till 2018, but after that Bansode started harassing Sandhya, asking her to get money from us. We tried to reason with him but he would not change and for Sandhya’s sake, we started paying whatever we could. Over the years, we have made several payments in cash as well as via UPI apps,” Shirsath, who works as a security guard, has told the police in his statement.

He has further said that Bansode’s behaviour got progressively worse as the days passed and even the birth of a second child – a son – in 2021 did nothing to change the situation. Bansode allegedly started drinking regularly and abusing Sandhya, demanding more and more money. On one occasion, Sandhya’s mother, who works as a domestic help, sent ₹30,000 through her employer’s account because Bansode was insisting on money to buy a vehicle. However, all of this money was allegedly spent on alcohol.

“On Wednesday, Sandhya called up her brother to tell him that Bansode was harassing her again. Her brother told her that he was sending her some money via UPI and asked her to leave for Pune immediately, but Sandhya refused. She called again at around 2.20 a.m. on Thursday to say that Bansode had thrown her out of the house, but once again refused to come to Pune,” the officer said.

On Thursday afternoon, Sandhya died by suicide and her parents, on learning about it, came down to Mumbai. After claiming Sandhya’s body from the hospital, her parents registered a complaint with the police. “We have arrested Bansode and charged him with cruelty by husband for dowry and abetment to suicide under the Indian Penal Code,” said senior police inspector Sanjay Govilkar, Sahar police station.