Jhansi:

An illustration by a four-year-old girl, whose mother was found dead in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi on Monday, has raised suspicion that the woman was assaulted and murdered by her husband, after years of alleged harassment, the police said. 

The incident, which took place at Panchavati Shiv Parivar Colony under Kotwali area of ​​Jhansi, came to light when the 27-year-old woman’s in-laws told her family that she died by suicide. A drawing and a statement of the woman’s daughter, however, suggested that she was killed by her husband, and her body was hanged to make it appear as a suicide.

The woman was identified as Sonali Budholia and her husband, a medical representative, as Sandeep Budholia. Their daughter’s name is Darshita.

“Papa assaulted and killed mummy. He then said ‘die if you want to’. He hanged her body and hit her head with a stone. Later, he brought down the body and dumped it inside a sack,” Darshita, who later lit the pyre, told reporters, as she showed a drawing of the purported assault. 

The child also alleged that her father had threatened to kill her mother earlier. “I had told him once that if you touch my mother, I will break your hand. He used to beat her, saying she should die and that I should meet the same fate as her,” she said. 

Sonali’s father Sanjeev Tripathi, a resident of Tikamgarh district in Madhya Pradesh, said she and Sandeep got married in 2019 but have since shared a troubled relationship.

“On the wedding day, I gave them Rs 20 lakh in cash as dowry but days later, Sandeep and his family began making new demands. They wanted a car. I told them it is beyond my means to buy them a car. He and his family then started assaulting my daughter. I even approached the police over this once and we had arrived at a compromise,” he said.

The situation, however, worsened after Sonali gave birth to a girl, Sanjeev said. “Sandeep wanted a boy. After the delivery, he and his family left my daughter alone in the hospital. I had to go to the nursing home to complete the payment. I took her home. Sandeep came a month later to receive Sonali and Darshita,” he said. 

Sanjeev said recently, Sonali was attending her cousin’s wedding in Jhansi’s Samthar when Sandeep called and asked her to return home. 

“This morning, I got a call, saying my daughter’s health has deteriorated. After some time, I received another call, saying she hung herself. As soon as I reached there, I learnt that she was dead,” he said. 

Kotwali City Police officer Ramveer Singh said the body has been sent for an autopsy and the report is awaited.

“We got a call about the woman’s death at her husband’s house under mysterious circumstances. Her parents have alleged that she was murdered. We are probing the case,” Mr Singh said.

(With inputs from Vinod Kumar Gautam)

Jhansi:

Sonu Parihar and Rajabeti got married in 2018 and wanted a child right away, so when Rajabeti finally got pregnant last year, the couple was overjoyed. Rajabeti went into labour on Thursday night and delivered a baby girl at the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in UP’s Jhansi, the same hospital where 18 newborns had lost their lives in a fire in November, not knowing that the alleged lack of facilities at the hospital would claim their daughter’s life too.

Parihar claims that after their daughter was born, she was suffering from breathing difficulties and doctors referred her to the Jhansi District Hospital because they did not have oxygen cylinders and could not spare a bed. The district hospital also refused to admit her, forcing him to do the rounds of several other hospitals in an ambulance for five hours before returning to the medical college. 

Parihar said he was turned away again and his daughter died in the ambulance. 

Authorities at the medical college have, however, said the baby was referred to the Jhansi District Hospital as their neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is still being reconstructed after the fire, because of which they do not have ventilators for infants. They also said that the baby had died by the time her father brought her back to the medical college.

From One Hospital To Another

“We wanted a baby ever since we got married. My wife finally delivered a girl and she died within five hours of being born. What should I tell my wife now?” Parihar said between sobs.

The grieving father said that when Rajabeti went into labour at their village Madawara in Lalitpur district on Thursday, he took her to the local community hospital. From there, she was referred to the Lalitpur District Hospital and then to the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi. 

“She delivered a baby girl at 7 am on Friday and doctors told us that the baby had breathing difficulties. They said they did not have oxygen cylinders or a bed for the baby and asked us to go to the Jhansi District Hospital. The authorities at the district hospital said they could not admit her because they have no ventilator and I then went to various hospitals, including private ones, but was turned away each time,” Parihar said.

“When I finally went back to the medical college with my daughter, I was turned away again. I lost her. She died in the ambulance,” he sobbed. 

‘No Ventilator’

The medical college’s Chief Medical Superintendent Sachin Mahor said they had to refer the girl to the district hospital because they did not have a ventilator. 

“Rajabeti was admitted on Thursday night and her condition was not good. She delivered a child on Friday morning after we operated on her and the baby had several problems when she was born. She was also facing breathing issues. Since work is going on at our NICU and we don’t have a ventilator, we referred the baby to the Jhansi hospital,” he said.

“Maybe the baby could not be admitted there as well. The infant was dead by the time the father brought her here. The question of not having a bed does not arise. How was Rajabeti operated upon if we did not have a bed available?” he added.

New Delhi:

In a bizarre incident, a man, who was reported dead 17 years ago, has been found alive in Jhansi. Four men – the missing man’s paternal uncle and brothers – have even served jail terms for the alleged murder. While the uncle is now dead, three brothers are out on bail. The mysterious case of death and life came to light when the Jhansi Police found a person who was registered as “dead” in Bihar Police records.

On January 6, during patrolling, the Jhansi Police came across a man. Upon enquiring, the cops learnt that the man had been living in the village for six months. He was identified as Nathuni Pal, a 50-year-old resident of Deoria in Bihar.

Further investigation revealed that the man lives alone and recently moved back to Jhansi. “My parents died when I was a child, and my wife left me long back. It has been around 16 years since I last visited my home in Bihar,” he said.

The case dates to 2009 or before when Nathuni Pal went missing from the house. Mr Pal’s maternal uncle registered a complaint against another uncle and four brothers, accusing them of taking away Mr Pal’s land and then killing him.

“My youngest sibling, who is in the police, was also named but after pleading with the Deputy Inspector General, his name was removed from the FIR,” said Satendra Pal, one of the brothers accused of alleged murder. “My father, I and two brothers served eight months each in jail. Currently, we are out on bail,” he added.

Satendra Pal broke into tears when he that learnt Mr Pal was alive. “We are finally free of the taint of murder,” he said. The case is still in court.

Mr Pal has been handed over to Bihar Police.

With inputs from Vinod Kumar Gautam

A school teacher allegedly beat up an eight-year-old boy who found him watching an obscene film in the classroom, in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi, police said on Saturday.

The student, along with his classmates, was reportedly laughing at the teacher Kuldeep Yadav over watching the video in the classroom, when he grabbed the boy by his hair and slammed his head against the wall.

The teacher has been taken into custody for questioning and a probe is underway, the police added.

According to the student’s father, Mr Yadav was reportedly watching a porn video on his mobile phone in the classroom, when the students started discussing his act and laughing among themselves. 

“The students’ reaction angered Mr Yadav, who then abused and brutally thrashed my son. He grabbed my son by his hair and slammed his head against the wall. He also thrashed him with a cane. My son sustained injuries, including in his ear. I have registered a police complaint against the teacher,” the victim’s father said. 

Superintendent Of Police (Rural) Gopinath Soni said a case has been filed and a detailed probe is underway. “We have taken the teacher into custody for questioning,” Mr Soni said.

A day after 10 newborns were killed in a fire at the neonatal unit of a hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi, the authorities have ordered a three-tier probe into the fire incident and dismissed reports that the facility had expired fire extinguishers.

Here are the top points in this big story:

A car rammed a bike rider, who was thrown away upon impact, and then dragged his bike along the road for some 500 metres, showed a disturbing video from Uttar Pradesh.

The incident, which took place on Monday afternoon, was reported from Mauranipur in Jhansi, some 400 km from capital Lucknow.

In the video, the car can be seen dragging the vehicle around in a marketplace, then reversing hard to to extricate the vehicle. The bike however remained stuck to the front of the car.

The injured man is being treated at a community hospital in Mauranipur.

“I was going on a motorcycle. A four-wheeler came and hit me from the front and then dragged my bike around,” said the victim.

The locals swiftly gathered around the vehicle, and beat up the people in the car, showed the video.

“We were sitting at a bus stand and saw a car dragging along a splendor bike. The cops were also chasing the car. We were able to stop the car and catch the people. There were two people in the car,” said Abhishek Gupta, a witness, adding that the men appeared to be drunk.

The police managed to pacify the irate crowd and caught the driver and another man in the car and took them to the police station.

“Near Ambedkar intersection, a young man riding a two-wheeler was hit by a four-wheeler. The victim was immediately admitted to Mauranipur Community Health Center. The vehicle has been seized and two people have been arrested. They are are being interrogated,” said Laxmikant Gautam, a senior cop.

(With inputs from Vinod Gautam)