Man held for abetting suicide after victim’s video surfaces

Husband finds video in which woman says accused was exploiting her

The Taloja police have arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 26-year-old woman from his neighbourhood.

Hansa Babhniya killed herself on September 11 at her rented apartment in Greenfield society at Sector 10, Taloja. On Saturday, her husband, Lalji, was shifting his belongings to his brother’s apartment in Nerul when he found his wife’s mobile phone. “Earlier, I had not tried to switch it on. That day, I felt like scrolling through her pictures. The first thing I saw was a video she had made of herself, speaking in Gujarati, in which she said a man named Amar had been exploiting her. She said she had tried to tell me about it, but couldn’t. Fed up of his harassment and demands for money, she ended her life. I approached the police and filed a case with them,” Mr. Babhniya, who runs a general store at Rachana Residency, said.

On the day of the incident, Mr. Babhniya was at his shop. Usually, Hansa would bring tea to the shop around 5 p.m. When she did not turn up till 5.30 p.m., Mr. Babhniya called her, but she didn’t answer. He went home around 6.30 p.m, but when she did not open the door, he forced it open. He found his wife dead and their two-and-a-half-year-old son sitting on a chair.

According to his complaint, Amar Kamble (25) had been forcing Hansa to have sex with him and his friends. The accused, who was arrested on Monday, had allegedly demanded ₹34,330 from her, threatening to share her obscene pictures and videos on social media. “We have sent her and Mr. Kamble’s phones for forensic tests. We need to verify if there was any video or pictures of the deceased in the accused’s phone,” assistant police inspector Deepak Bhitade said.

The police said Mr. Kamble lived in a building opposite Hansa, and worked in his brother’s shop. He has been arrested under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC and is in police custody till Friday.