Mystery behind Pooja’s death deepens
Hina Rohtaki
Tribune News Service
Panchkula, February 4
The mystery behind the death of 26-year-old Pooja Kalra has deepened with the woman’s family alleging that she was killed as she had threatened to go home and tell about her husband Shuchim’s extramartial affair.
The Panchkula police will now go through her husband’s call details to establish any such link. “I told the SHO concerned today that Pooja had shared with her cousin that Shuchim was involved with someone else in Ludhiana. Besides, he went to celebrate New Year in Bangkok alone and didn’t take her along,” said the victim’s brother, Naveen.
Meanwhile, the police has learnt that most of the “luxuries” purchased by the accused family were from the “dowry amount”. Jewellery items have been recovered by the police.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Jagtar Singh said, “Gold jewellery worth Rs 3 lakh was recovered. Shuchim’s father told the police that the other jewellery items were with his mother and grandmother, who are at large.”
The car of the family in which the girl was taken to hospital has also been impounded by the police.
“An amount of Rs 12 lakh given by the victim’s family to the accused has already been spent on a house and various luxuries,” said ASI Baldev Singh, who is investigating the matter.
The 26-year-old victim’s family said she had to face torture throughout the year. “Whenever Shuchim would get angry, he would ‘bite’ my sister and then send the pictures of injuries on WhatsApp,” said her brother Naveen.
Shuchim and his father Anil Gupta have been sent to judicial custody.
The case
Pooja (26) was found dead at her residence in Sector 26, Panchkula. On her family’s complaint, the police lodged a case of murder and dowry death. However, the postmortem report stated that it appeared to be a case of suicide, complicating the case further.
