Man booked for abetting wife’s suicide; kin co-accused

Rajkot: A man, along with his parents and his brother, was booked for abetting the suicide of his wife who died after consuming poison on May 4 in Kolithad village of Gondal taluka of Rajkot district.
Poonam Rupareliya, 38, had ended her life allegedly due to harassment by her husband and in-laws over her son from her first marriage.
Gondal taluka police have booked Poonam’s husband Hiren Rupareliya, his father Kishore Rupareliya, mother Hansa Rupareliya and brother Nikunj Rupareliya under IPC Section 306 (abetment to suicide).They were charged on Saturday based on a complaint filed by Poonam’s elder brother Dharmesh Paneliya (40).
According to the police complaint, Hiren was Poonam’s second husband. Her first husband Pravin had died of electrocution. They had a son from the wedlock. However, after Pravin’s death, Poonam married Hiren in May 2020. At that time, her first son was two years old.
Police said that Poonam had remarried with the condition that her son from her previous marriage would stay with her and the second husband would adopt that child and bring him up like his own.
Poonam was happy with her second husband for the first year. But after she gave birth to a child with Hiren in April 2023, things took a dramatic turn.
Hiren and his parents started pressuring Poonam to send her son from the previous marriage to her parent’s house. They started harassing and taunting her over small matters, the complaint stated.
Poonam used to complain to her parents about her in-laws whenever she came to meet them. But every time her parents would send her back. On May 3, a day before Poonam’s death, she had called her brother’s wife and urged her to take her son from her previous marriage as she feared for his life.
Poonam’s parents reached Hiren’s house and told them not to harass their daughter over her elder son. They then took the elder son with them. But the next morning, Poonam was found unconscious in her room. She was rushed to Gondal govt hospital where the doctors declared her dead on arrival.