Advocate suicide case: Cops arrest second cousin on rape charges

Mumbai: A second cousin of the advocate, who had committed suicide by jumping from her house in a high-rise in Malad on June 14, was arrested on Tuesday. The man, Harshad Patel, (35), a garment businessman and a resident of Ahmedabad, had allegedly raped the advocate, who was 25-years-old. She had left a six-page suicide note saying she had been raped by her relative, which is why she was killing herself.

mid-day had reported the suicide (‘Note reveals rape by relative led to advocate’s suicide’) on June 16. According to police officials, the deceased had been to Ahmedabad with her parents in March for a vacation. Harshad Patel, who is the son of her father’s cousin, took her for a ride in his car. Patel stopped the car in a wooded area and raped her. He also threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the incident. For over three months, the woman didn’t tell anyone about the incident. She was depressed, but did not reveal anything even to her parents. Police said that on the morning of June 14 she wrote the suicide note and also told her parents about the incident. Later, around 2.30 pm, she locked herself in the toilet of her 22nd floor flat. She removed the glass of the window and jumped from it. She fell on the roof of a car shed on the ground floor and died on the spot. Patel is in police custody. He has been charged under sections 376 (Rape) and 306 (Abetment of Suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.