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KOLKATA: Homemaker Nandita Sarkar Biswas , 26, had sent a WhatsApp message to her cousin an hour before she was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her room at Muraripukur on Saturday evening. The message — “See how they have beaten me” — was accompanied by two selfies that showed bruises on her chin. She was found in the clothes she was wearing in the photographs.

Nandita’s parents and relatives have cried foul play and lodged a complaint against her husband Tanmoy Biswas and in-laws, following which Biswas was arrested on Sunday. Her body was sent for postmortem to ascertain the exact reason behind her death.

The incident happened around 6pm on Saturday when Biswas claimed he returned home from work to find Nandita hanging in the bedroom. However, Nandita’s relatives said they suspected she was strangled and then hanged. They alleged that she was subjected to repeated torture and assault by her in-laws who demanded dowry.

“We have arrested the husband on the basis of the family’s complaint and have started a case of unnatural death,” said an officer from Manicktala police station. Biswas, a medical representative, was booked under IPC sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty). Nandita’s in-laws have been absconding since the incident.

Nandita married Biswas last August after a few months of courtship. “However, days after the wedding, Nandita was tortured by her in-laws. Her mother-in-law called us time and again asking for dowry. Even earlier this month, she had called Nandita’s parents demanding a washing machine,” said Ramen Sarkar , the victim’s uncle.

He said Nandita was so upset with her in-laws that she had attempted suicide twice. Hours before her death, she sent two photographs to Sarkar’s daughter Kakon showing bruises on her chin and claiming she was beaten up. She sent another text asking her not to tell her husband about the text message. “Hours later, we got a call from the family that she had committed suicide. But when we checked her body at the morgue today, there were multiple bruises on her body. We suspect she was killed,” said Sarkar.

According to cops, Biswas said Nandita got the bruises after she fell off the staircase on Saturday afternoon and added that she was suicidal in nature. “The man said on Saturday, Nandita had sent him out to get her prepaid phone recharged. When he returned, Nandita was hanging with a dupatta around her neck,” said an officer.

