The couple who allegedly got engaged in an altercation in a hotel off EM Bypass and were arrested — the man for abusing his wife and the transgender woman for suppressing her nationality — have been accused of abusive behaviour in another hotel as well, police said.

The couple were forced to leave the earlier hotel, which is close to the one where they allegedly got involved in an altercation early on Saturday, officers said.

“We have also learnt that the couple had got engaged in an altercation in a Mumbai hotel a few weeks ago, which needed police intervention,” said an officer.

A police officer probing the case of abusive behaviour said the couple had checked into the hotel along the Bypass on May 2 after their marriage. But on the night of May 8, they were found to be involved in abusive behaviour.

“They broke a mirror and smashed glass bottles while fighting. Other guests were feeling disturbed. So the hotel authorities asked them to check out,” said an officer
at Pragati Maidan police
station.

The couple then checked into another hotel nearby. There they stayed for two days but again started fighting, the police said. The fighting spilled on the hotel lobby, from where the wife — a transgender woman from Bangladesh — was rescued on Saturday morning, the police said.

The man, identified as Adil Sheikh, and his family friend, Tiger, who runs a security agency in Mumbai, were picked up from near the airport on Saturday based on the complaint by the woman. She alleged that the men had tried to kill her.

“The woman was hit on her head with a wooden brush with bristles, the likes of which are used to clean coats,” said an officer.

Later, Adil, too, lodged a complaint against his wife, accusing her of suppressing nationality. The woman was arrested based on Adil’s complaint.

“Tiger came to tell Adil that his family was not ready to accept his marriage to a transgender,” the police said.

The woman from Bangladesh had allegedly entered India illegally in 2012 and stayed in Guwahati, Bihar, Bengal and Goa. The police said she underwent a transformation surgery in Delhi and was staying in Howrah’s Uluberia.