A doctor who used to stay with her family at a Salt Lake apartment died at a government hospital after drinking a liquid from a bottle at home, police said.
Soma Choudhury's husband Sanjoy Kumar Patra, who teaches at a school in Ultadanga, was arrested after their daughter Kajari lodged a complaint alleging torture by her father, an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.
An officer of Bidhannagar North police station, where Kajari lodged the complaint, said that on Friday the couple had an argument, after which Soma entered her room, took out a bottle and poured its contents into her throat.
The findings of a preliminary investigation suggest she had drunk arsenic phosphate, the officer said.
“The woman started frothing seconds after she drank the liquid. Family members took her to the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. She
did not survive,” said the officer.
Later, Kajari went to Bidhannagar North police station and filed a complaint.
The officers there after speaking to her charged her father under the IPC section related to abetment to suicide. He was later arrested.
The officer who spoke with the family members and neighbours said the couple would often get into fights as Soma suspected her husband was having an affair.
“Neighbours and family members have confirmed that frequent fights would break out in the flat," the officer said.
Sanjoy was produced in a Salt Lake court and remanded in judicial custody.
Moving a bail plea, Sanjoy’s counsel Pabitra Biswas submitted: "There is no evidence that my client had inflicted any form of torture on his wife. Moreover, she had drunk from the bottle in her room.”
The bail plea was rejected.