Constable arrested after wife commits suicide near Mumbai

Police said the accused, a resident of Dahanu, had been demanding dowry from his in-laws

A constable from Gholvad police station in Palghar district, around 116km from Mumbai, was arrested on Wednesday on charges of dowry harassment and abetment to suicide, after his wife killed herself.

The 23-year-old woman committed suicide on January 31. (HT File/Representational Image)

Her father Sobhraj Kasbe filed a complaint against her husband Sunil Kharat, 34, alleging that he was harassing Shyamal, 23, for dowry for the past two years. He had demanded a car, Rs3 lakh and gold, the complaint said.

A resident of Dahanu, Kharat married Shyamal in 2012. “Kasbe said he had tried fulfilling the demands, but Kharat kept harassing them for more dowry,” said Durgesh Shelar, assistant police inspector of Gholvad police station.

On January 31, Shyamal hanged herself from the ceiling while Kharat was asleep in another room with their 14-month-old son, Shelar said.

Officials said the suicide was discovered when their older son, 5, returned from school and Kharat woke up to open the door.

Police officials are now waiting for post-mortem reports, though the interim report suggests death by hanging.

“We arrested Kharat under sections 304 (b) [dowry harassment] and 306 [abetment to suicide]. We produced him before Dahanu court on Thursday, and he has been remanded in police custody for three days,” said Shelar.