‘Mentally disturbed’ woman kills self

A ‘mentally disturbed’ woman allegedly committed suicide early on Saturday morning unable to bear the harassment   of her in-laws. 

Kunjal Sachde, 27, who was staying with her parents at their house in Four Bungalows in Andheri (West), hung herself in the kitchen with her dupatta, the police said.

“Her mother found her hanging by a dupatta in the kitchen. She immediately alerted everyone in the family and they informed the police,” sub-inspector V Kanauje of the Versova police station said.

“Kunjal, who has a eight-month-old daughter, was undergoing psychiatric treatment for the last four months,” Kanauje said. In their statement to the police, Kunjal’s parents alleged that she was mentally harassed by her in-laws.

Kunjal’s father Ramesh Thakkar said: “She had an arranged marriage with Mittul Sachde, a resident of Santa Cruz (West), in 2006.” Kunjal had attempted suicide on two earlier occasions, Thakkar said. “In December last year, she had attempted suicide by consuming rat poison and in March she had slit her wrist.”

Kunjal’s husband was insecure and did not like her socialising, her sister Darshana said.

“He suspected her and restricted her activities to household chores. Her in-laws took her cellphone away and did not allow her to contact anyone,” Darshana said. “On Friday night, she spoke to her mother-in-law. She was extremely disturbed and depressed after that.”

“When we got our daughter married to Sachde, we didn’t know much about the family because we had approached them through a marriage bureau. But they seemed decent,” Thakkar said. “They made us pay for the entire wedding ceremonies, but we did not object,” he said. “After a year, they started torturing her mentally by not letting her take up a job despite she being an MBA.”

Mittul Sachde refused to comment on his wife’s death. “I have given my statement to the police,” he said.

“We will soon decide whether a case needs to be registered against the in-laws,” senior inspector Suresh Nalawade said.