Nagpur: Nandanvan police have dismissed claims of foul play in the death of Rakhi Dhande, 22, who was found hanging from the ceiling fan with a bedsheet at Shree Sai Taj apartment near Chamat Chakki on Friday. The family has registered an offence of abetment to suicide against Anil Pethe, for repeatedly harassing the deceased over a period of time.
Pethe, whose elder brother is learnt to be a politician, had rented the apartment around a fortnight ago. Sources in the neighbourhood said Pethe was a divorcee and was supposed to get married. Pethe had taken possession of the apartment from the landlord Ujare family, which stays at Hanuman Nagar. He had been shifting in the furniture. Rakhee, youngest of four sisters, stayed in the close vicinity of the flat, where she was found dead. Pethe too stayed in the same neighbourhood.
Ujjwala, elder sister of the deceased, said Rakhee was apparently under stress and also did not return to their rented house on Friday. “My sister wanted to stay overnight at the place where she worked, for reasons she did not explain. I had last spotted her in a restless condition at her workplace. It was not clear why she had been so tense, and frequently spoke on the mobile phone,” said Ujjwala. “My sister’s mobile phone was switched off later in the night. In the morning, the mobile phone was switched on but no one replied. We had gone to the police station to lodge a missing complaint. As we were getting the report lodged, Pethe called up at the police station that someone had ended life at his apartment,” he said.
Ujjwala said Pethe had been harassing her sister. “We had told our sister to remain away from him, and she had promised us to do so. We feel that she must have been murdered for some reason,” she said. “There was blood oozing and legs rested on the bed,” she said.
When TOI visited the apartment, the neighbours said they did not spot Rakhee or any other woman entering the rented apartment. They expressed wonderment as to how and when Rakhee had come and ended her life.
Police said the post-mortem report has indicated her death has taken place due to hanging and there was no foul play.
