Mumbai, Jan 12 (PTI) Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde’s personal assistant Anant Garje, arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide if his doctor wife, on Monday moved a bail plea claiming the allegations against him were “vague’ and that the case was an outcome of “emotional distress” after the tragic incident.
Dr Gauri Palve (28), a dentist in civic-run KEM Hospital, allegedly hanged herself in her flat at Worli in central Mumbai on November 22 last year. She and Garje got married in February last year. Garje and two of his kin were booked for abetment of suicide and other offences by Worli police on the complaint of the deceased’s father.
Garje’s plea, filed through advocate Mangesh Deshmukh before additional sessions judge Rupali Pawar, said, “The FIR does not disclose any direct, specific, or proximate act of abetment or cruelty attributable to them which could constitute an offence under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.” Garje’s plea claimed that family members are implicated only due “to a matrimonial dispute and to exert pressure upon the husband, which amounts to misuse of law”.
The plea asserted the allegations made in the FIR were “vague, omnibus, and lacking specific details regarding any date, place or act that could constitute instigation or participation in any manner”.
The accused stated the case against him was based merely on suspicion and assumptions without any substantive facts.
“No independent statement, documentary evidence or electronic communication or any particular event connects the applicant with the alleged harassment or the unfortunate death,” his plea said.
It emphasized that it was ample clear from the face of FIR that “there is no active instigation by the applicant to the deceased at any point of time”.
Further, it said “not a single medical report, complaint, or witness statement connects the applicant with any physical assault or cruelty”.
The FIR is a result of an afterthought and emotional distress after the tragic incident, the plea said.
The court has sought prosecution’s reply and adjourned the matter to January 19.
In the police complaint, Palve’s family has alleged that she was tortured and harassed by her husband, and this led her to take the extreme step. They have alleged that Garje had an extra-marital affair. PTI AVI BNM
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