Pune: A 34-year-old woman, Payal Zambre Patil, was found hanging in a flat in Mukund Nagar on Monday. Police said the death was reported the same day and her husband was arrested after the case was registered. Her in-laws have been booked for alleged abetment of suicide.
No suicide note was found at the spot, police said. The body has been sent for post-mortem and the report is awaited. Police say she was found hanging; her maternal relatives say otherwise. The two accounts of how she died are at odds, and investigators are working through both.
Her maternal relatives allege that she was murdered and that the body was hanged afterwards. They have accused the husband and his family of harassing her over a demand for 10 tolas of gold and of pressuring her to give birth to a boy, and say the demands and the pressure continued through the marriage.
Two teams have been formed to trace the other accused, police said. The number of accused and the sections invoked have not been made public.
Statements of the woman's maternal relatives have been recorded and their complaint is being examined. Police have not commented officially on the allegations made by her family.
Officers said technical evidence and witness accounts will be important in establishing the sequence of events, and that the post-mortem report will clarify the cause of death.
No one has been held guilty and the investigation is at an early stage, police said. All allegations so far are preliminary. The family has demanded strict action against those named.