Indore: Newly-wed student jumps off mall, 2 days after hubby’s death

INDORE: A newly-wed MBBS student tried to end her life by jumping from the third floor of a mall in Indore on Friday afternoon, two days after her husband’s alleged death by suicide. They were married just 15 days ago.
The victim, Saniya Khandelwal, suffered head injuries and multiple fractures and is now in ICU. A note found in her handbag said she wanted her last rites to be done with that of her husband, Shubham Khandelwal.
Saniya’s suicide bid put the spotlight on Shubham’s death as well. A civic contractor in Ujjain, he was found fatally injured in his car, which had struck a tree, on Wednesday night. Two letters addressed to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and home minister Narottam Mishra were found in his pockets, along with a suicide note where he blamed two officials of Ujjain Municipal Corporation.
Police now say he had swallowed five packets of poison before the car crash. After investigating his suicide note, police registered a case against sub-engineers Naresh Jain and Sanjay Khujner for harassing him mentally and threatening him, said Chintaman police station in-charge Mahendra Makashre.
Guard sprinted to prevent suicide, missed by inches
After Shubham’s funeral on Thursday, Saniya’s father arrived in Ujjain to take her back to hometown Faridabad. The father-daughter travelled to Indore on Friday morning and checked into a hotel near Sarwate bus stand to wait out the hours before their afternoon flight.
They were on their way to the airport, when Saniya said she wanted to have some juice and got into C21 mall, said police. She went to the third floor, and climbed the railing. CCTV footage shows her standing on the railing for around 41seconds. The staff and security guards noticed her and one of them sprinted to save her.
She jumped, dodging a guard’s outstretched hand by a few inches. The horrifying scene was caught on CCTV. Mall staff rushed her to hospital, where she was wheeled into ICU. Her father later shifted her to MY Hospital.
Saniya had come to temple town Ujjain from Faridabad four years ago to study medicine. Here, she met Shubham, and they married in a simple ceremony at Ujjain’s Chintaman temple 15 days ago. On Wednesday night, they received news that Shubham had died in an accident.
Ujjain ASP Rupesh Dwivedi told TOI that police found he had consumed five packets of poison while driving the vehicle, and vomited several times in the car. He lost control of it and met with an accident.
Before Makashre could investigate the scene, doctors had handed over the body to family members, believing it was an accident. He was cremated without his viscera being preserved for further autopsy. After seeing the accident site, police had rushed to stop the cremation, but in vain. FSL expert Preeti Gayakwad has collected vomit samples and other items from the car for forensic examination.
Police investigated the suicide note, which named two Ujjain civic officials. Shubham claimed in the note that the duo was not releasing Rs 13 lakh due to him and not signing the measurement book. The accused sub-engineers had also registered a case against Shubham at Chimanganj police station a few days ago for allegedly vandalizing their car and throwing stones at their house.