Woman ‘possessed by evil spirit’ hangs herself to death in Pune

In yet another case of superstition claiming a life, a 21-year-old woman hanged herself to death at her house on Monday.

Densita Mohanrao Batula, the daughter of a railway officer, took the extreme step when her mother had gone to see off the victim’s youngest sister Glorita at the bus stop.

The deceased, a first-year MBA student, was undergoing psychiatric treatment.

The eldest child in the family, Densita was pursuing post-graduation in master in personnel management (MPM) and postgraduate diploma in business management (PGDBM), after graduating in commerce from Abeda Inamdar College.

The deceased lived with her parents and two siblings in a two-bedroom flat on the fourth floor of Renuka Apartments building on BT Kawade Road in Mundhwa. Her brother Pramod, 19, is a standard XI student and Glorita is in standard X.

The family had moved in to their owned flat five months ago.

Sub-inspector Mangal Modave, who is investigation the case, told DNA, “Densita hanged herself to death in her bedroom between 11.30am and 12.30pm. As Glorita’s prelims were going on, their mother had gone to see her off in the school bus. On returning home, she found that her daughter had hanged herself from a ceiling fan hook with the help of a rope. Although no suicide note was found, we suspect it to be a suicide case. Densita’s parents say that she had tried to end life earlier also. According to the parents’ statements, the victim believed that she was haunted by evil spirit.”

Kaseiah Eda, 50, the husband of Densita’s cousin, said, “It is shocking. We had assembled together at the church for Sunday mass and I had visited the Batulas’ family on the same night. She had talked to me and that turned out to be our last conversation. It is a double tragedy for the family as Densita’s father had undergone surgery for throat cancer recently. Densita was charming and introvert.”

The deceased’s father, Mohanrao said, “She wanted to become a banker or join the government sector. She finished her first semester examination a week ago. I had noticed a couple of months ago that Densita was disturbed. She used to believe that an evil spirit was haunting her. We had even started psychiatric treatment for her from KEM Hospital.”

Densita’s body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem was carried out by Sassoon General Hospital on Monday.