Husband of the deceased 32-year-old Ashwini Patil from Warje in Pune has alleged the accused used to harass her; no names mentioned in suicide note
Alleged harassment in office drove 32-year-old Ashwini Patil from Warje in Pune to commit suicide. An official complaint against the incident that happened on September 8 was made only on Wednesday by the deceased’s husband Mahendra. He had reportedly shared evidence of the harassment with the police a week after the suicide but had asked for time to register an FIR as he had been in a “state of shock”.
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Mahendra has alleged that Ashwini’s boss Suraj Bundela had been harassing her by sending lewd text messages and that’s why she hung herself.
Bundela was arrested late on Thursday and has been charged under sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 509 (intending to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code.
The fateful day
Ashwini and Mahendra got married 13-odd years ago and have a son. She was working as a credit manager with a private firm, while he is an assistant sales manager with another company.
“Ashwini was a good person. Just before she killed herself, I had found her crying. She’d said to me that her boss had been harassing her a lot. She had also planned to quit her job after receiving her salary. On the day of the suicide, Suraj had repeatedly called her and asked her to come and meet him, but she warned him against calling or sending messages,” said Mahendra.
Police says
Senior inspector Anuja Deshmane, in-charge of Warje Malwadi police station and the investigating officer, said, “The incident took place on September 8. The complainant returned from work but his wife failed to open the door. With the help of his neighbour, he broke it open and found her hanging from the ceiling fan inside. During the investigation that day, we had found a suicide note from Ashwini on her bed in which she had said that she was willingly ending her life and no one was to be held responsible. To probe the reason, we had gone through her cell phone, in which we had found calls and messages exchanged between her and Bundela, where both had abused each other.”
The police have seized Bundela’s phone as well and are going through the SMSes exchanged, which, according to the complaint, are lewd.
The other side
Speaking to mid-day, Bundela’s relative, who had come to court, said, “Ashwini knew Suraj since 2014; they were working in the same place. He used to help her a lot with office assignments. During a talk with Ashwini, he had told her that he had got a better opportunity and, hence, had planned to resign. Ashwini later told the same to Suraj’s wife, who’s eight months pregnant, saying Suraj was going to quit without any plan in mind, which worried his wife and caused tension between them. Hence, he had called up Ashwini to reprimand her for her lie and for worrying his wife.”
In the past, Ashwini had many times complained to Bundela about her husband and in-laws, the relative added.
On Friday, Bundela was produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) and remanded in police custody for two days.
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