A 20-year-old homemaker committed suicide in her Tollygunge home on the southern fringes of Kolkata on Wednesday.
During her inquest on Thursday, police found her ‘suicide note’ scribbled on her left palm, holding her mother-in-law responsible for her death.
Based on this and a formal complaint lodged by the deceased woman’s father, the police have arrested her husband and mother-in-law.
The cops said Puja Chanda, who had got married to Sanjoy Chanda a year ago, had gone to her parental home at Belpukur, Kulpi in South 24-Parganas and had returned to her Tollygunge Road home only on Wednesday.
“It appears that her mother-in-law had picked up a fight with her the day she returned. Around 7.50pm, she was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her bedroom,” said an officer.
Her in-laws and neighbours brought her down and took her to SSKM Hospital where she was declared dead.
The next day when her post-mortem was conducted, the police came to know about a purported note she had scribbled on her left palm.
It was mentioned: “Amar mrityur jonno amar shashuri daai - iti Puja,” (my mother-in-law is responsible for my dead - undersigned as Puja).
The police said they had learned during investigation that Puja was allegedly subjected to torture by her mother-in-law.
The Telegraph could not contact anyone in the Chanda family to verify the authenticity of the allegations against Puja’s in-laws.
On Thursday, Puja’s father Kartick Dolui lodged a complaint against Sanjoy and his mother based on which both have been arrested. According to the complaint, Puja was subjected to repeated physical and mental torture at her in-laws’ place for dowry.
The charges if proved before the court could lead to a minimum punishment of seven years of imprisonment and may extend to a maximum punishment of a life term.
