Alumni association dismisses allegations of suicide

The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) Alumni Association here on Sunday released some text messages exchanged between journalist Nirupama Pathak, an alleged victim of honour killing, and her friend Priyabanshu Ranjan, a journalist himself, dismissing allegations that relations between the two were strained, driving her to commit suicide.

The messages exchanged between the two between April 20 and 28, the period during which Nirupama was with her parents at Koderma in Jharkhand, clearly showed their mutual affection and concern for each other, said a statement issued by the Association.

“Baseless”

The conversation shows that the allegation made by Nirupama's family that Mr. Ranjan had refused to marry her forcing her to end her life is baseless, the statement said.

It claimed that the two had decided to get married at an Arya Samaj temple on March 6 and several of their friends and colleagues were invited, but Nirupama wanted to make one last effort to earn the consent of her parents and thus the wedding was postponed.

Dismissing allegations by Nirupama's brother that Mr. Ranjan had stolen her laptop, diaries and valuables, the statement said the messages showed that it was Nirupama who had asked him to take their photographs in a pen drive from her computer and delete the data.

The statement said Mr. Ranjan was not aware of Nirupama's pregnancy, but when he came to know about it through her autopsy report, he accepted that if she was carrying a child, it was definitely his.