Calcutta, July 1: A woman arrested on the charge of abetting the suicide of the heir to a prominent catering agency today claimed she was a victim of his false promises.

Small-time actress Rita Debnath, who was produced in court and remanded in police custody, told police that Arun Barik, the 51-year-old son of the owner of Bijoli Grill, had not kept any of the promises he had made to her. Arun had promised to marry her but later said he wanted to cut off relations with her, claimed Rita.

Arun, married with two children, had committed suicide on Thursday by hanging himself at his home. He apparently took his life after being repeatedly pressured by Rita to marry her.

During interrogation, Rita, 40, a resident of Shyampukur, said she was justified in asking Arun to marry her. “I have remained a spinster because of him. I had been waiting for him to marry me. But he stopped talking to me recently. He did not want to interact with me,” she told police.

Though Arun did not leave any suicide note blaming Rita, his wife Madhumita lodged a complaint with Tollygunge police station accusing Rita of abetting the suicide. She stated in her complaint that despite knowing that Arun had two adult children, the actress had been pressuring him to marry her for the past couple of years.

During their probe, police came to know that Rita had called Barik a few hours before he committed suicide.

Arun’s friends, with whom he was playing cards when Rita called him on his cellphone, also confirmed that he had looked upset after interacting with her.

Rita did not deny that she had repeatedly asked Arun to marry her. “He promised to marry me on several occasions. And, accordingly, I chalked out a plan for my life. When I realised that he wanted to cut off relations, I started asking him to marry me. What is wrong in it?” she asked.

Rita told the police that she and Barik had travelled to several places outside the city and spent time together.

“We went to Puri, Digha and Gangtok and stayed together. After virtually living like man and wife, he recently wanted to leave me. When I kept asking him to marry me, he said he wanted to make a monetary settlement and cut off all relations with me,” she said.

Deputy commissioner of police, south division, Ajay Kumar, said that unable to handle the conflicting pressures of married life and an extramarital affair, Barik had wanted to end relations with Rita.