Arpita’s family claimed she had last spoken to her mother on Thursday. “She said there was lot of tension in the house. However, she said she would go for night duty at the hospital. (Representational)
A 23-YEAR-OLD pregnant nurse allegedly committed suicide at her residence in Burtolla area of Kolkata in the wee hours of Friday. Following this, her husband was arrested. The deceased, Arpita Chatterjee, was allegedly found dead in her nurse’s uniform at a time when she should have been on duty at Srijoni Healing Home, a private hospital.
Later, Arpita’s mother Shibani Bera lodged a police complaint against son-in-law Shankodweep Chatterjee — a manager at a private hotel — his mother Subhra and brother Sudip and they were booked under sections 498A (cruelty at the hands of husband or his relatives), 306 (abetment to suicide) and 34 (act done by several person with common intention) of IPC.
While Shankodweep has claimed Arpita hanged herself from a ceiling fan, her parents alleged she was tortured and killed by her in-laws. “Preliminary postmortem examination report suggests she committed suicide. However, the matter is under investigation and hence, he has been arrested… Initial investigation found that while the girl was fond of non-vegetarian food, the boy’s family was vegetarian. The in-laws had issues with having non-vegetarian food at home. This used to lead to regular fights,” said a police officer.
The two had been in a relationship for six years before marrying on January 22, said police. “According to Shankodweep Chatterjee, he and his wife had a fight over food, following which, he left for office. He too was on night duty at the hotel and apparently returned home around 12.50 am to find Arpita’s room locked from inside. He said he broke open the door and found her hanging… He said he brought her body down and informed the police. She was taken to R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, where she was declared brought dead on arrival,” said a police officer.
Sonali Nag, Arpita’s sister, said: “Yesterday, my sister was supposed to report for night duty at hospital but instead, was found dead in her uniform. They have tortured her to death….” “It was a love marriage. But after she went to stay with her in-laws, the real picture came to light. They would fight over smallest things. She was five months pregnant, but her mother-in-law never gave her proper food. She had told us about this but we thought as she had recently got married, slowly things will settle down,” she said.
Arpita’s family claimed she had last spoken to her mother on Thursday. “She said there was lot of tension in the house. However, she said she would go for night duty at the hospital. Later, her mother kept calling but no one picked up. Around 1 am, her husband took the call and said that Arpita had hanged herself,” said a family member. “We reached her house within a few minutes, but by then, they had already brought the body down… She would not have killed herself,” the relative said.
