Maharashtra: Secret lover strangles woman with her own saree in Virar

Dhanashree Ambadaskar, the deceased and Murder suspect Shekhar Kadam

A 32-year-old woman was strangled with her saree by the man who had been her lover for the past four years. The alleged killer Shekhar Kadam, 38, has been arrested by Virar police and the body has been sent to JJ hospital for a post-mortem. Sources told mid-day that the deceased, Dhanashree Ambadaskar, the mother of two girls, had been desperately wanting to marry Kadam. "She had made 16 phone calls to Kadam, asking him to meet her on the day she was killed," said a senior police officer.

The suspect told us that she had been pressing him hard to divorce his wife, but he was not ready to do so," he added. The deceased would meet Kadam when her husband was away for work. "The afternoon was an ideal time for them to meet at her one-room kitchen in Virar East as both her children would be in school and her husband was out," said an officer.

Murder suspect Shekhar Kadam, a Virar-based auto-rickshaw driver. Pics/Hanif Patel

On Monday, the woman had been desperately calling Kadam, who arrived at her place and the duo started arguing. "Kadam got angry and assaulted her. When she fell on the floor, he took the help of her neighbours who called a doctor," said an officer attached to Virar police station.

mid-day spoke to Dr Gulab Deshmukh, who was called by the deceased's neighbour on Monday evening. "I was told that the woman was feeling giddy. So, I went there and treated her. All her parameters were okay. The suspect was present in the room when I visited. After treating her mildly, I had told them to bring the woman to my clinic in Phoolpada," Dr Deshmukh told mid-day.

"Around 6.30 pm, I received another call from the same number, but this time, the caller was the suspect [Kadam]. He told me that the same woman was feeling uncomfortable. This time, I sent a nurse to her place but it was too late to revive her," said Dr Deshmukh, whose statement has been recorded by the Virar police.

The FIR

The deceased's husband has registered an FIR against Kadam, who is an auto-rickshaw driver in Virar. "We have registered an FIR under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and the accused has been arrested. He was produced before a court in Vasai and further investigations are underway," said Vijay Pawar, the senior inspector of Virar police station. The complainant, Rupesh Ambadaskar, said, "The body was sent for post-mortem at JJ Hospital and now we are heading back home. My life has been ruined." The remains were expected to be returned to Virar on Tuesday evening.

Sociological aspect

This is the third such gruesome incident in Vasai-Virar in a week. The first murder took place on the morning of June 18 when a 20-year-old girl Aarti Yadav was killed by her former boyfriend Rohit Yadav alias Rohit Pal, who could not tolerate rejection.

Murder suspect Shekhar Kadam, a Virar-based auto-rickshaw driver (right) The Virar police station. Pics/Hanif Patel

Rohit repeatedly bludgeoned her in the presence of hundreds of onlookers who were busy recording the incident instead of intervening. Two days later, an elderly woman was stabbed to death by her son-in-law Prashant Khaire, 49, who had tied her hands and legs before slitting her throat as his two preteen children looked on.

The horrifying killings of three women in a row within the short span of a week in Vasai are the shocking consequences of domestic violence in the fast-growing population in Vasai, Virar and Nalasopara areas. Talking about the rising crime against women in Vasai taluka, senior advocate Digambar Desai from Vasai court told mid-day that the frustration level is high among people residing in nuclear families.

"We live in a patriarchal society but women have started working. But after coming home from the workplace, they have to do the household work while the males do nothing. This is one of the prime reasons behind disputes in nuclear families. These disagreements lead to frustration, which results in domestic violence," said Desai.

He added that certain sections of people have no respect for the law "because of the rampant corruption in the police force". "Criminals believe that they can get away with offences as they believe they can pay their way out of anything. Cops are also overloaded with work and can't focus cases because crime keeps taking," he added.

‘Thrillers to blame'

Meanwhile, another senior advocate from the Bombay High Court Abha Singh said, "The cops can't reach everywhere but the local community can really do wonders to safeguard women. The main reason behind such gruesome murders is crime thrillers on OTT platforms and social media. People have been watching OTT platforms and learning tricks to assault their opponents. What we have seen in the broad-daylight murder in Vasai is the mixed impact of crime thrillers and high level of frustration as the boy had apparently been rejected."

The police at the home of the deceased, Dhanashree Ambadaskar

"Also, people do not understand the importance of the joint family where chances of domestic violence cases are low as someone will definitely come to the rescue of women and the harassers are scared to take any extreme step," she added. "Mental health issue is another major reason. I would say that people have become heartless today," said Singh, adding, "Today, the tolerance level among people has gone down, resulting in horrendous crime."

After the wrench killing incident in Vasai, senior officers in Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police have directed all the police stations to scan the files of non-cognisable offences registered in the past two months and counsel the victims and accused to prevent any further gruesome case in their jurisdiction.