Man gets daughter to write ‘suicide notes’ against estranged wife and in-laws, then kills her, say cops

THE ACCUSED WAS REPORTEDLY INSPIRED BY AN EPISODE OF TV SERIES C.I.D., POLICE OFFICERS SAID

NAGPUR: A 42-year-old man in Nagpur was arrested for allegedly killing his 16- year- old daughter and staging it as a suicide to “teach a lesson” to his wife and her family, police said on Sunday. The accused was reportedly inspired by an episode of popular television crime series CID as he committed the crime, they added.

Providing details, Kalamna police station in-charge Vinod Patil said Guddu Chhotelal Rajak, a labourer, used to live with his second wife Kaushalya (38) and three children – Mahi (16), Ziya (12) and Gaurav (10) – in the east Nagpur locality. He remarried a few years ago after his first wife died by suicide in 2016. However, Kaushalya left home on October 10 this year due to alleged mental and physical torture by her husband, Patil said.

On November 6, Mahi was found hanging from a ceiling raft, Patil said. After Kalamna police rushed to the spot, they recovered five suicide notes blaming her stepmother, maternal uncle, aunt and grandfather for “forcing her to marry”. The suicide notes also accused her maternal uncle, Santosh Piparde (47), of molestation, he said.

Subsequently, police filed a case under section 306 (abetment of suicide) of Indian Penal Code and provisions of Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act against the concerned family members – Kaushalya, Santosh and his wife Kalpana (40) and grandfather Dasharath (68) – and arrested them, Patil said.

“Police, however, grew suspicious and seized Guddu’s phone for investigation. They found a photo of Mahi alive, with a noose around her neck. Upon further interrogation, he confessed to killing Mahi,” Patil said.

“The accused hatched the conspiracy after seeing an episode of CID to teach a lesson to his relatives and his second wife after she refused to come back, and shared his plan with his daughters. He asked Mahi to write suicide notes with a concocted narrative,” he added.

Nagpur additional commissioner of police Naveen Reddy said on November 6, Guddu woke up his daughters at 3am and told them he needed Mahi’s photograph to submit it to the police. “He then allegedly tied a rope to the ceiling raft and asked his daughter to stand on a table. Ziya took a photograph on his mobile phone... Guddu then kicked the table. As Mahi hung from the ceiling raft and cried for help, Guddu did not save her,” he said. “He told his daughter to act, claiming he wanted to teach a lesson to their relatives,” Patil said.

Police later added section 302 (murder) of IPC in the case and arrested him, Patil said. “We have released his wife and relatives. He is in police custody till November 16.”