HC stays arrest of lawyer’s family for wife’s murder

NAINITAL: The Uttarakhand high court on Tuesday granted stay on the arrest of the sister, mother and father of Manish Arora, an advocate arrested on Monday on suspicion of murdering his wife last month. Arora’s sister, who is also an accused in the case, had filed a writ petition in the court on June 7 seeking the quashing of FIR and relief from arrest.
Shweta Nehra along with her parents, Ranjana Arora and Harish Arora, had pleaded the court for stay on the arrest of the three citing that they were nowhere involved in the case. The accused’s parents told the court that they were not in Nainital at the time of the crime.
Government advocate KS Rautela told TOI, “Honourable court granted stay on the arrest of three after argument. The date for the next hearing is still to be decided.” The police had registered a zero FIR in Nainital on May 24.
Manish Arora, 42, was arrested here following the death of his wife, Padmini Dabral, 36, on May 19. Arora had taken the woman to the BD Pandey Government Hospital claiming that she was sick. However, doctors who examined her discovered that she was dead.
Dabral and Arora had been married for a little more than a year. This was the advocate's second marriage after a divorce five years ago. On being told her husband was unwell, Dabral returned from her parents' house in Haridwar to Nainital on May 18 and was dead the following day.
Doctors at the hospital had alleged that Arora's family took away the body without allowing a post-mortem to be conducted, as per procedure. Arora then allegedly took the body to his hometown, Roorkee, for last rites without letting the doctors examine cause of death.
After Dabral's parents filed a complaint in Roorkee alleging Arora had killed their daughter over dowry issues, a post-mortem was conducted, which revealed the cause of death as asphyxia. Dabral’s parents had also recently written to CM Harish Rawat seeking his intervention in getting the advocate arrested.