Airhostess filed dowry harassment case before ‘suicide’

A 25-year-old airhostess who worked with Indigo Airlines, who reportedly committed suicide at a five star hotel in Mumbai, had registered a case of dowry harassment against her husband in Delhi.

Her husband Sumit Virmani was arrested by the Amar Colony Police in south Delhi days before Sucheta Anand took the extreme step. Sucheta’s relatives alleged her husband was behind her death.

Sucheta, a resident of East of Kailash, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in room number 311 of Ramada Palm Grove Hotel in Juhu on Saturday night.

Her family alleged Sumit got bail just three days before the tragic incident.

“She had registered a case of dowry harassment against her husband at the Amar Colony police station on March 1. He used to beat her up and often harassed her for dowry,” said Manish Anand, the victim’s brother.

Sucheta, who married Virmani in 2002, alleged she had a miscarriage after her in-laws beat her up in February 2004. The couple has been living separately since 2006.

She was a commerce graduate from Delhi University. Sumit had seen her in a shopping mall and approached her for friendship.

The duo later decided to get married. They were living in Paschim Vihar for four years till she complained to her relatives that Sumit often assaulted her physically and harassed her for dowry.

“Her husband did not give her a penny and she started teaching in a kindergarten in Paschim Vihar to support herself. His family would keep asking her for money,” said a relative.

Sucheta’s husband is into car finance and lived with his parents in Paschim Vihar. Sucheta was last seen on Saturday when she had dinner with a pilot of the Indigo Airlines.

“On Saturday, she had dinner with pilot V. Menon,” said Dilip Gaikwad, senior police inspector with the Santa Cruz police station. “She then went to her room alone and hanged herself.”