A 34-year-old woman was found hanging in a flat in Pune, following which police arrested her husband after her family accused him and his parents of harassing her over demands for gold. Police have registered a case of abetment of suicide.However, the woman’s relatives alleged that she was murdered and that her husband and in-laws hanged her body in the flat near the family’s matrimonial home.The woman, identified as Payal Zambre Patil, had earlier worked as an IT professional before quitting her job, a police official said on Monday.She was married to Akshay Zambre Patil and the couple has a daughter.

Citing claims made by Payal’s relatives, police said she had an argument with her mother-in-law on Sunday and left the house.“Members of her in-laws’ family and her relatives began searching for her on Monday morning. During the search, she was found hanging in a room of a flat in an apartment complex near their matrimonial residence.

No suicide note was found,” an official from Swargate police station told PTI. The official said Payal was hanging from the ceiling when police reached the flat, adding that statements from her family members were being recorded.Payal’s brother, Rishikesh Pawar, alleged that her husband and in-laws appeared unconcerned when he reached their home on Monday morning.“When I reached there, her father-in-law, mother-in-law and husband were sitting idle and appeared unbothered.

When we questioned them, they got up to search for Payal,” he said.“Within five minutes, they returned and informed us that she was in a nearby apartment. When we reached the flat, its door was locked from inside.

I somehow managed to enter through the rear balcony and found Payal hanging,” he added.The brother said that Payal had often complained about harassment by her mother-in-law.“There was a quarrel between Payal and her mother-in-law on Sunday. I called her husband and told him that it was a temporary dispute which could be resolved,” he said.He added that Payal’s in-laws called him on Monday morning and told him that she had left the house the previous night.Payal’s uncle claimed that she had been murdered and accused her husband and in-laws of killing her and hanging her body in the flat.“Since her marriage, Payal was being harassed by her mother-in-law.

Every Diwali, we were asked to fulfil a demand for ten tolas of gold,” he alleged.“This year too, they demanded gold, but we told them that we were farmers and, given the drought-like situation, it was not possible for us to meet the demand. We had even promised to give the gold next year,” he claimed.According to the police complaint filed by her family, Payal’s husband and in-laws pressured her to have a male child when she was pregnant in 2022 and subjected her to mental harassment.After she gave birth to a girl on March 30, 2023, her in-laws allegedly visited the hospital, argued with her and said they would not take responsibility for her or the child, the complaint stated.Following Payal’s death, her relatives allegedly ransacked her in-laws’ house.Swargate police station senior inspector Yashwant Nikam told PTI that a case of alleged abetment of suicide had been registered against Payal’s husband, mother-in-law and father-in-law.“Akshay has been arrested.

Two police teams have been formed to trace the other accused,” he said.Police are investigating Payal’s death as a case of alleged abetment of suicide, while her family has accused her husband and in-laws of murder and harassment over demands for gold. Her husband has been arrested and searches are under way for the other accused.- Ends