Man arrested for abetting wife’s suicide

According to the Charkop police,Katare had been having frequent quarrels with Geeta over the latter’s suspicion that he had an extra-marital affair with a married woman residing in the locality. Senior police inspector Purushottam Gawande said,“From what we have gathered from Katare,he had been having an affair in 2004 but had broken up with the woman later following some differences of opinion. However,Geeta who came to know about it recently had suspicions that Prem was still involved with her,which led to frequent quarrels between them.”

Geeta had filed a non-cognisable offence against Katare on January 14,accusing him of verbal abuse and assault.

On Sunday morning,Katare had gone to the garage owned by him,followed by Geeta and his younger son Yash,8. “At the garage,Geeta and Prem got into an argument over the alleged affair. During the course of the argument,Geeta burst into tears. An enraged Katare reprimanded her. He left the garage after instructing his employees to close it for the day. Geeta and Yash soon followed him home. There was no one else at the home as their eldest son Sanket,12,studies in a military school out of the city,” Gawande said.

The couple had another argument the same evening. Prem locked himself in his room. “Around 6.30 pm,when Prem came out of his room,he saw Geeta hanging from the ceiling fan of the living room. He raised an alarm and was trying to bring her body down when Yash came in and a few neighbours gathered and the police were informed,” Gawande said.

Prem and the other members of the family as well as their acquaintances were interrogated. They later arrested Katare on charges of abetting the suicide of his wife. “We will also question the other woman to ascertain if she had anything to do with the suicide,” Gawande said.

At the police station,a handcuffed Prem said,“The police did not even allow me to attend my wife’s funeral. I am also going to join her in the coming days. The police have framed me in this case.”

When asked why Katare was not allowed to attend the funeral,a policeman said,on conditions of anonymity,

“Had Prem been present there,it might have led to a fight as the wife’s family members were aggrieved. We wanted to avoid any violence against the accused.”