A 21-year-old woman allegedly died by suicide due to harassment by in-laws, following which, the latter procured a fake COVID-19 positive to evade autopsy in Beed district of Maharashtra, police said on Friday. A case has been registered against four members of the family, two of whom have been arrested, an official said.
Puja Ganesh Raikar, resident of Dhangar Javalka village of Patoda tehsil, allegedly consumed sanitiser on May 19 due to harassment by her husband and his family over dowry, the official said. The victim was admitted to a private hospital in Ahmednagar and was later taken to a hospital in Pune, where she died on Wednesday (May 26), he said.
The victim’s in-laws knew that an autopsy would reveal that she had consumed a poisonous substance and hence, decided to procure a fake COVID-19 positive report to cover up the cause of death, the official said. When the victim’s family refused to believe that she had died due to COVID-19, another test was done, the result of which came out negative, he said.
A case has been registered against the victim’s husband Ganesh Raikar, father-in-Law Shivaji, mother-in-Law Vijubai and Namdev Sukde, a relative, who helped get the fake report, the official said. While two of the accused have been arrested and two are absconding, he added.
