Mumbai man drives for 8 hrs with wife’s body in car

after finding his wife hanging from the ceiling of their home in Saki Naka, Andheri, a 28-year-old shop owner drove across the city till Borivli for around eight hours, finally ending up at a government hospital, which reported the death.

Soklaram Purohit, who was arrested on charges of abetting suicide, is now in judicial custody. According to the police, when Purohit returned home around 1.30am on June 6, he saw that his wife Maniben had committed suicide. He put the body in his car, and went to a hospital in Saki Naka, where the doctors declared her brought dead. He then smuggled the body out and took it to another hospital in the area,where too she was declared dead on arrival.

Purohit again managed to get the body out of the hospital and brought it back home. He then decided to take her to a hospital belonging to his community in Borivli. He left home within a few hours, with his wife’s body in the back seat.

As he was nearing the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), Purohit called his wife’s cousin, who advised him to take the body to a government hospital.

Around 9.30am, Purohit turned back and went to Shatabdi hospital in Kandivli. Hospital authorities there informed the police about the death. “A team was sent to the hospital, after which an accidental death report was registered,” said a police officer, on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media. “The accused claimed he wanted to take the body to the community hospital before reporting to the police. He did not report the incident for eight hours.”

“Our investigation revealed the couple used to fight often as the man blamed the wife for not having a child. We then arrested the husband and changed the accidental death report to a case under section 306 of Indian Penal Code. We are investigating the case further,” said N Reddy, deputy commissioner of police of zone 10.

Police said they are waiting for the woman’s viscera report to ascertain the cause of death. “Prima facie, it seems the woman died of asphyxiation. If the reports point to murder, we will probe further,” said the officer.

MUMBAI:Panicky