Juhi Prasad

Patna/Pune, Nov. 15: Juhi Prasad murder accused Anushree Kundra today surrendered before Pune police, reviving faith of the victim’s parents in the law of the land.

Thirty-year-old Anushree allegedly set Juhi on fire in the flat of Nimesh Sinha, the latter’s would-be husband, in Pune on October 13. The Delhi-based lawyer died on October 22.

Anushree, also a Delhi-based woman, was absconding after the incident. She was charged with Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code after she surrendered.

Delhi High Court had on Saturday granted four-day anticipatory bail to Anushree and asked her to appear before a Pune court in connection with the investigations into the Juhi murder case. Accordingly, Anushree arrived in Pune around 11am, and was taken into custody by a crime branch team of the Pune police, which produced her before the Pune Cantonment Court.

Deputy commissioner (crime), Pune, Rajesh Bansode told The Telegraph: “We had kept Anushree under close watch after she reached Pune this morning.”

According to the Pune police, on the morning of October 13, Anushree had fled from the flat of her former lover, 27-year-old Nimesh, after allegedly setting the newly engaged couple afire in their bedroom in New Market Plaza housing complex in Wanowrie area of Pune. While Juhi suffered 90 per cent burns and succumbed to her injuries in a private hospital on October 22, Nimesh escaped with 15 per cent injuries in the ghastly incident.

Appearing before the Pune court, Anushree submitted a 12-page surrender application in which she claimed that she was innocent, and alleged that Nimesh tried to kill her after a heated argument. She also denied the police allegation that she was absconding. She claimed that she was staying with her parents in New Delhi and had made no attempts to run away.

In the application submitted by her Pune lawyer Vaibhav Jathar to the court, Anushree recounted the entire incident in detail. According to her, she had been in a relationship with Nimesh for the past five years and had rented the New Market Plaza flat in 2007 where she lived-in with him. Anushree said she arrived at the flat from Bangalore around 11am on October 12, and was upset when Juhi reached around 5pm from Delhi.

According to her application, Nimesh and Juhi consumed liquor that evening, and under the influence of alcohol, they tried to beat her up and throw her out of the house. She asked them to leave the rented flat as it was in her name. She said she managed to stay the night in the flat, and tried to convince Juhi to quit the relationship claiming that Nimesh had cheated her, the application said.

“Anushree has claimed she is innocent. She said she had another argument with Nimesh in the morning after which he tried to douse her with petrol and kill her. But she managed to escape. She said it is possible that Nimesh had killed Juhi after she left,” Jathar told The Telegraph from Pune.

Juhi’s Patna-based father, A.N Prasad, also claimed that Nimesh was involved in the murder.

“The boy is definitely involved in the well-planned murder. Why did Nimesh’s mother ask Juhi to rush to Pune? I am sure that the police will take him in custody,” Prasad, who reached Pune yesterday, said.

Prasad, an advocate in Patna High Court, appeared to be happy with the progress in the case. “The police are doing their job. With Anushree in police custody, I know she will speak about Nimesh. I have faith in the law and know that my daughter will get justice,” Prasad said.