Woman set on fire: Husband, in-laws held

PANVEL: Five days after a 21-yearold newly-wed woman was burnt to death, her husband and inlaws were arrested for the crime.

They were arrested after the woman’s father complained to the police about the harassment.

The incident has occurred on December 6 at Kasarbhat village of Panvel. Those arrested are the woman’s husband Nilesh, 29, her mother-in-law Malti, 55, and father-in-law Ramkrishna, 60.

Jyoti and Nilesh Mhatre had been married for seven months and they fought frequently.

Senior police inspector of New Panvel police station Surendranath Deshmukh said, “Jyoti had been complaining against him and her in-laws to her parents.”

Jyoti was from Rave village, near Kasarbhat village. “She had left the house several times, but returned to get her married life back on track,” he said.

Sources said the differences were because Nilesh is not very educated unlike Jyoti. “Last Sunday, Malti found ash wrapped in a paper. When she asked Jyoti about it, she said she had got it from a godman to resolve the issues in her marriage,” Deshmukh said.

“Malti and Nilesh suspected the ash was either for some black magic or slow poison to harm them,” he added. “After an argument, Nilesh and his mother poured kerosene on her and set her on fire and pushed her into a room and locked it. She burnt to death there.”

The police said Ramkrishna has denied any involvement in the incident but since he didn’t stop the two, he was arrested.