Ex-lover booked for abetting woman’s suicide

Surat: A man has been booked for abetment to suicide after a married woman died by suicide allegedly due to his blackmail. The accused, the victim's former boyfriend, had threatened to make her photos viral after she refused to continue the relationship. Ashwini Kumar police have registered a case and begun an investigation.According to the police, the victim, Akanksha Kushwah, worked in a sari unit and lived with her husband, Narendra Mohan, in the Varachha area. The couple married in UP in 2022 and shifted to Surat for work. A month after the wedding, Narendra found that Akanksha was in contact with one Rahul Parihar from her native place. When questioned, she told her husband that she had been in a relationship with Parihar for several years. Narendra asked her to stop communicating with him, which led to frequent quarrels, after which Akanksha returned to UP. After Narendra spoke to her father, the family intervened and Akanksha returned to Surat eight months ago. In Janthis year, Narendra found a mobile phone with her. She told him Parihar had given it to her forcibly and that she did not want to stay in touch with him. She later broke the SIM card and the phone. On March 14, Akanksha hanged herself at their home and died by suicide. Narendra later checked her phone and found video call records with Parihar, along with WhatsApp chats in which Parihar threatened to circulate intimate photos of her on Instagram. The messages also showed that the accused pushed her to suicide. Ashwini Kumar police said the investigation is continuing based on mobile data and other evidence.