21-year-old kills self after hearing about ‘girlfriend’s suicide’

A 21-year-old cab driver allegedly killed himself in east Delhi’s Kalyanpuri on Monday after someone informed him that the woman he was courting had killed herself, police said.

Police said they are verifying the information about the woman having killed herself.

Police said the man’s family blamed the woman’s family for his death, even as they do not know who the woman is and where she lives.

The family told police that all they knew about the woman is that she lives either in Hathras or Mathura in western Uttar Pradesh. Based on their complaint, the police is trying to identify the woman.

No suicide note has been recovered, the police said.

Deputy commissioner of police (east) Jasmeet Singh said, “We have learnt that the man was informed by somebody about his girlfriend’s death. Whether the woman is dead or alive is yet to be verified. We are trying to establish the woman’s identity.”

Police said the man, who worked as a driver with an app-based cab aggregator, was in a long-distance relationship with the woman for the past two-and-half years. One of his relatives told the police that the couple had met through a common friend and remained in contact with each other over cellphone.

On Monday, a police officer said, the man told his relative that his girlfriend had killed herself and that he got the information about his death from a person known to her.

“The man believed that information because he found his girlfriend mobile phone switched off when he tried to contact her. He was upset when he returned to his room,” the officer said.

Around 11 pm, the man’s relative went to check on him and found him hanging from the ceiling fan in the room. The relative raised an alarm after which some neighbours rushed the man to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead. Police was informed about his death from the hospital. “An inquest proceedings under section 174 of CrPC has been initiated in the matter,” DCP added.