Navi Mumbai: Nearly two years after the death of a woman in Kharghar, the Kharghar police were compelled to register a FIR od dowry death following an order from the Panvel magistrate court to register a First Information Report (FIR) in the case. The then senior police inspector of Kharghar police station, Rajiv Shejwal, had failed to take cognisance in the matter.

The family of 29 year old lady who had died by suicide last year, had to approach the court after the police failed to take any action against the in-laws of the deceased.

On April 20, 2023, 29 year old Mithilesh alias Puja Anjani Diwvedi, a resident of Sector 12, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her apartment. The police had then registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR). The family of the lady had been insisting on a case against her in-laws family for pushing her to take the extreme step.

"The Kharghar police kept delaying the process of taking any action and we had no other option but file a case in the court. I kept travelling from Ahmednagar for around 19 hearings in the court so that my sister gets justice," brother of the deceased, Balendra Ramkushal Payasi, said. According to him, his sister was always subjected to harrassment by her husband and in-laws for dowry and also for not conceiving.

Puja was married to Anjani for over five years. The family has alleged that hours before she died, she has called her father to inform him that her in-laws were coercing her to bring money and gold for her sister-in-law's wedding.

The FIR was registered on November 25, against the husband Anjani Rajlalan Divwedi (33) and father-in-law Rajlalan Divwedi (60) under the section 304(B) – Dowry Death, and Section 34 (common intention) of the IPC.

"We have registered the case as per the orders and are investigating the dowry death angle in the case," a police officer from Kharghar police station said.