Harassed over dowry allegations, Phagwara man commits suicide

PHAGWARA: A 60- year- old man committed suicide by consuming celphos tablets at his house in Manawali village in Phagwara on Saturday.

The Phagwara police have booked five persons for abetment to suicide in connection with this case on Sunday.

The deceased has been identified as Sohan Lal, a resident of Manawali, who was a panch of Manawali village panchayat.

As per the information, around seven years ago deceased’s son Ravi Kumar had a contract marriage with a girl identified as Geeta Rani, a resident of Dolike village, Sangatpura in Bhogpur, to get PR in Italy. The contact was of ` 10 lakh of which ` 5 lakh were paid in the beginning while another half would be given after getting PR.

Jyoti, deceased Sohan Lal’s daughter, in her complaint alleged that her brother didn’t get any PR and Geeta and her family members, including Lalji, Babli, Gurnam and Sandeep, had started demanding the payment. “Geeta had lodged a false dowry case against our family with the Jalandhar commissionerate and threatened us to give her payment otherwise she will lodge false complaints against her family,” she stated.

Jyoti said after facing so much of harassment and threats by Geeta, her father had consumed celphos tablets on Friday and died at the DMC Hospital, Ludhiana, on Saturday.

Demanding the arrest of all the accused, the deceased’s family along with various associations of Phagwara met Phagwara superintendent of police (SP) Ashwani Kumar on Sunday. Manpreet Singh Dhillon, Phagwara deputy superintendent of police ( DSP), said they have registered the case and booked all the accused.

“We are raiding their houses and soon all the accused will be arrested,” he said. After booking Geeta Rani, Lalji, Babli, Gurnam and Sandeep all the residents of Dolike Sangatpur village, Bhogpur, the police have registered a case under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code at Phagwara sadar police station.