New Delhi: The Delhi Police has booked the son and the wife of pan masala baron Kamal Kishore in connection with his daughter-in-law’s alleged suicide. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West Delhi) Amit Goel said an FIR has been registered on the complaint of Deepti Chaurasiya’s mother at the Vasant Vihar police station.
He said the case has been registered under section 108/3(5) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (abetment of suicide).
Recalling the day of the incident, Deepti’s mother Sharda Devi told ThePrint she received a call early morning Tuesday from her daughter, who lived just a few kilometres away in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj.
“She had called up in frustration after she had a fight with her husband Arpit over their son playing with a mobile phone, leading to a delay in preparations to go to school. I told her they should not fight over such petty issues and that it was not a big deal,” she recalled her conversation with her 38-year-old daughter.
Hours later, Deepti died allegedly by suicide, hanging herself in the dressing room at her husband’s house.
Married to the eldest son of pan masala baron Kamal Kishore, the managing director of firms that own the ubiquitous brands Kamla Pasand and Rajshree Pan Masala, Deepti and Arpit had a fractious marital relationship.
Even though Kamal Kishore’s counsel has denied all allegations made against his client by Deepti’s family, the alleged suicide has put the spotlight on a nearly 15-year-long arranged marriage forged between the two high-profile families.
On one side is the family of Arpit Chaurasia, who himself along with his parents Kamal Kishore and Usha Chaurasia have been accused by Deepti’s mother of years of torture and mistreatment.
Deepti belonged to a politically and economically influential family. Her father is a cousin of BJP leader Sanjiv Chaurasiya, who represents Bihar’s Digha constituency in the state assembly. Former Sikkim governor Ganga Prasad Chaurasia is also a distant relative.
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Tale of broken marriage
Around 12 pm Tuesday, a call to the police control room about a “38-year-old female who had allegedly hanged herself in the dressing room of her house” was routed to the Vasant Vihar police station.
Sharda Devi said Deepti was rushed to the Holy Angels Hospital in South West Delhi where she was declared dead on arrival.
“The body was shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital’s mortuary. A police team inspected the scene and recorded statements. PME (Post-Mortem Examination) was conducted and the body was handed over to the family,” a Delhi Police spokesman said.
Sharda refuses to call it a suicide. “My daughter did not die by suicide. It’s a conspiracy. It needs a detailed probe. She was a little upset over the fight with her husband, but suicide was not even a remote possibility. We had a plan to visit a nearby temple as was our routine,” Sharda told ThePrint.
She alleged years of harassment and assault on her daughter by Arpit and his family members including mother, often followed by apologies and promises to Deepti that they would treat her as a daughter of the house.
Deepti, the only daughter among three children to her parents, married Arpit in December 2010, in what her mother described as an “arranged marriage after carefully looking at the status and profile” of the Chaurasia family.
“We wanted the world for our daughter, and hence we arranged this marriage. The Chaurasia family, from the outset, appeared a royal family with a profile and culture. We are businesspeople from Bihar and we also have a business in Kolkata, and we thought that we had found the match,” Sharda told ThePrint.
However, she said all those hopes came crashing down only months after the marriage. “We received a call from Deepti sometime in February-March 2011, alleging assault by Arpit and his mother. She was beaten up, and her face was swollen miserably. We went to Delhi to meet her. The matter subsided as they apologised and Arpit’s mother offered assurances (they would treat her well),” Sharda said.
But soon Deepti came to know through a call from someone that Arpit had an extramarital affair and was leading a double life, Sharda claimed, adding this escalated the matters and Deepti returned home to Kolkata with her son.
Arpit’s family came all the way to Kolkata and signed a bond that they would treat her well, after which Deepti returned to her in-laws’ house in Delhi, her mother said.
However, things did not change. In fact, it got worse after Deepti gave birth to a girl in 2018, Sharda said.
By then though, Sharda’s family had shifted to Vasant Kunj, a few kilometres from the Chaurasia family home in the South West district of the national capital.
‘Phone calls & WhatsApp messages’
The volatile marital relationship between Arpit and Deepti took another violent turn about a year ago. According to Sharda, the flashpoint occurred when Arpit returned from what he had told Deepti was a business trip to Dubai.
“While taking out Arpit’s belongings from his luggage, Deepti came across several calls and messages (on his phone) suggestive of an affair. When she confronted him, Arpit threatened her, and she ran to our home in Vasant Kunj, where she stayed for some time,” Sharda Devi said.
Once again Aprit’s mother came to “convince us to let Deepti go back”, Sharda said. “Usha Chaurasiya once again promised that Deepti would be well treated, and she went back to her in-laws’ house.”
Kamal Kishore’s family counsel advocate Rajinder Singh refused ThePrint’s request to respond to specific allegations, but rejected all claims made by Deepti’s family.
“All allegations are baseless. I have been telling this to the media since the incident happened, and I maintain that even now,” he told ThePrint.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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