A 20-year-old man was arrested by the Mumbai police for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 19-year-old girl in Antop Hill. The police said that the arrested person and the teenager were seeing each other till five months ago and as he was harassing her and demanded money by threatening to make their intimate pictures go viral, the latter ended her life by ingesting more than 50 pills of P-Nolon, a medicine used by her father.
According to police officials, the victim is a resident of Kamraj Nagar in Antop Hill and the medicine P-Nolon was prescribed to her father to control his blood pressure and heart beat.
The police said that their family stayed in a one plus one structure and while the rest of the members were on the mezzanine floor, the 19-year-old victim consumed the pills at around 6.30pm on January 14.
“We believe that she has congested more than 50 pills and as she was found in an unconscious state, the family members rushed her to Sion hospital where she lost her life during treatment,” said senior police inspector Manoj Hegishte of Antop Hill police station.
While the police were probing the suicide, her 21-year-old cousin appeared before them at the hospital and informed about the harassment she was going through.
The sister told the police that she had met the 19-year-old in her house on January 2.
“We had just returned from Shirdi and as I wanted to give them prasad, I went to their house in Antop Hill,” read her statement.
“No one was present in the house at that time and she was also not responding as she did earlier,” the statement read.
The 21-year-old woman then took her in confidence after which the victim started crying and confided in her.
“She (the victim) said that she was in a relationship with one Rupesh Jawle which ended recently. But since then he has been blackmailing her by showing her intimate photos. Under the pretext of sending the photos to their friends and posting them on social media, he started demanding money from her,” she told the police.
The police said the cousin’s statement was recorded, following which a case under relevant sections of abetment to suicide and criminal intimidation was registered.
Hegishte said, “We arrested Jawle on Tuesday and we are trying to ascertain whether he has harassed other girls as well.”
The police said that they have seized the mobile phones of the accused and the victim to gather evidence in the case.