PANJIM: After direction from the High Court of Bombay at Goa, the Pernem Police station has registered an FIR in the death of 28-year-old married woman Nidhi Gupta from Haryana, who had died under mysterious circumstances at Arambol in April 2022.
When contacted, Pernem SDPO Jivba Dalvi confirmed that an FIR under Section 302 of IPC has been filed against Aakanksh Gupta, the husband of Nidhi Gupta. Pernem PI Sachin Lokre is conducting the investigations.
Due to non-progress of the investigation two years after death, the victim's father Sushil Kumar Gupta approached the Court praying that the Crime Branch, CID or CBI be directed to investigate the case as he had lost faith in the Pernem Police Station.
Gupta had stated that the Pernem police told him that the FIR would be registered only after receiving the viscera report and after due certification by the office of deputy collector, Pernem.
Shockingly it has been revealed that the viscera report was actually r̥eleased on Oct 31 2022, within six months of the incident. It is 27 months now.
But on Tuesday, the High Court directed the Pernem police to register a proper FIR against the concerned persons and to investigate the case.
During the hearing public prosecutor Somnath Karpe placed on record an inquest report with regards to the death of Nidhi Gupta. The report concluded by observing that there was sufficient ground that meticulous investigation by the Pernem police was necessary to ascertain the exact cause and manner of death. It was also stated in the report that prima facie victim’s husband Aakanksh Gupta was in some way responsible for the death and that the role of his family members needs to be examined.
Nidhi married Aakanksh on April 26, 2021, and after a few days of marriage, she complained that her in-laws were torturing her for bringing less amount as dowry and this situation continued for eight to nine months, according to the petitioner.
On April 24, 2022 the couple arrived in Goa to celebrate their first wedding anniversary along with two friends of Aakanksh, who accompanied them on the same flight and they stayed together till April 26. On April 27, the couple shifted to a hotel at Arambol and on the intervening night of April 28-29, Nidhi died of unnatural death in suspicious circumstances.