Thane: A suspended senior police officer was arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 24-year- old woman constable in the district, the police said today.
The accused, assistant commissioner of police Shamkumar Nipunge, surrendered before the Kalwa police last week after the Supreme Court rejected his pre-arrest bail in the case.
He was placed under arrest on April 6 and later remanded in police custody, a senior official of the Thane police's Crime Branch said.
Subhadra Pawar, a constable attached to the police headquarters in Thane Commissionerate, was allegedly found hanging from a ceiling fan of her flat in the Kalwa township here on September 6 last year, according to the police.
No suicide note was recovered from the spot.
Her brother, Sujit Pawar, had later filed a complaint against Nipunge and her sister's fiance Amol Paphale, a constable of the Mumbai police, of harassing and mentally torturing her, the official said.
He alleged that his sister and her fiance had a quarrel on the day of the incident over Nipunge apparently making frequent calls to her, he said.
Offences were subsequently registered against Nipunge, who was attached to the Thane police headquarters, and Paphale under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 34 (common intention), the official said. Later, the ACP was suspended.
Nipunge had initially moved the district court for the pre-arrest bail which was rejected. He then approached the Bombay High Court which granted him interim bail.
However, apprehending arrest in the case, he later moved the Supreme Court which last week rejected his pre- arrest bail plea and directed him to surrender before the police, the official added.
