Betrayed by lover, Dalit woman hangs self

Rajkot: A Dalit woman ended her life on Saturday after breaking up with her boyfriend, who had posed himself as a Dalit first, but later turned out to be a Muslim, in Wankaner of Morbi district.
Police said the victim, identified as Rinku Solanki (21), hanged herself to death from the ceiling of a roadside tea and snacks stall, owned by Sultan Baloch, a relative of her boyfriend Samir Baloch.

“In his statement, Rinku’s father Dahya Solanki said that Samir had befriended Rinku while posing as a Dalit youth. However, after she came to know that Samir was a Muslim, she broke up with him. Yet, Samir continued to harass her by threatening her. Tired of this, she decided to take the drastic step,” said R P Jadeja, sub-inspector of Wankaner city police station.

Rinku came to know about Samir’s religious identity after Samir’s engagement with a woman of her religion.

Meanwhile, police investigation found that Rinku had chosen Sultan’s stall to commit suicide as she and Samir used to meet there. “She came to the stall and called up Samir and asked him to come there. When Samir arrived at the spot, he found Rinku hanging. However, when we reached there, we did not find Samir, but his family members were over there. They had laid down Rinku’s body on a cot and told us that she had committed suicide,” said Jadeja.

However, after Dahya raised his suspicion that his daughter had been strangled to death, police sent her body for forensic postmortem to Rajkot Civil Hospital, the report of which is being awaited.

“Only after the PM report comes out, will it be ascertained whether Rinku was murdered or she had committed suicide. Meanwhile, we have launched a manhunt for Samir,” Jadeja said.

He added that it is yet to be investigated as to what Samir’s family members were doing at the crime spot.

Rinku used to work as a clerk at a private doctor’s clinic. After her duty hours were over, she hired a rickshaw and went to the crime spot.