Upset over being blackmailed, Amritsar woman ends life

A SORDID SELFIE TALE A Tarn Taranbased man, who had taken a selfie with the victim and was allegedly blackmailing her, has been booked on abetment to suicide charges

AMRITSAR: A 28-year-old woman, who was allegedly upset and insulted over her selfie with a man, committed suicide by taking a poisonous substance in the Sultanwind area of the holy city on Wednesday.

The Sultanwind police have booked a Tarn Taran-based man for allegedly abetting the suicide of the woman.

The deceased has been identified as Sandeep Kaur while the accused is Sukhraj Singh of Dubli village, falling in the Patti sub-division of Tarn Taran district.

In his complaint to the police, the victim’s husband Ranbir Singh said he married Sandeep eight years ago. He said three months ago, his wife told him that around one-and-a-half years ago, she was going to her mother’s home by bus at Patti in Tarn Taran district when the accused clicked a selfie with her.

He said, “My wife had told me that the accused since then had been blackmailing her to make a call to him, otherwise he would make the selfie viral.”

He said after his wife told him about her harassment by the accused, he lodged a complaint against him at the Patti Sadar police station.

“We had then arrived at a compromise with the accused, but he didn’t stop his mischievous acts and continued to harass my wife,” he said.

Ranbir said last week his wife told him that she had been insulted and she wouldn’t continue her life anymore. “On March 3, my wife consumed some poisonous substance and she was admitted immediately to Ranjit Hospital at Putlighar where she was declared dead by the doctors, on Wednesday,” said her husband in his complaint.

Station house officer (SHO) of Sultanwind police Neeraj Kumar said on the complaint of the deceased’s husband, a case under section 306 (abetment of suicide) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the accused, who is absconding.

› Three months ago, my wife told me that around oneandahalf years ago, when she was going to her mother’s house in Patti by bus, the accused had clicked a selfie with her.

RANBIR SINGH, woman’s husband