Mantralaya suicide: RTI activist brought two women together, says police

Police investigating Monday’s twin suicide bids outside Mantralaya, one of which resulted in a woman’s death, are looking for a suspect who is thought to have brought the two women together.

The two drank pesticide outside Mantralaya on Monday, with one of them later dying in hospital. Later a handicapped person also tried to commit suicide outside the assembly by pouring kerosene on himself.

Both women arrived in front of Mantralaya with scarves around their faces

Sheetal Gadekar, 45, from Pune, and Sangeeta Dhaware, also 45, from Navi Mumbai, arrived at the main gate of the assembly together and consumed the poison. Gadekar later died at JJ Hospital while Dhaware’s condition remains critical. The two women did not know each other before, according to the police, who suspect an RTI suspect brought them together.

CCTV footage shows the women with similar scarves around their face moments before they drink the pesticide, a source said. An official said the police had the mobile phones of the two women.

Gadekar and her husband owned a hotel in Dhule’s MIDC, which had been sold to someone else without their knowledge, according to the police. She was distraught by the police’s alleged refusal to take action.

Hospital botched his treatment leaving him disabled

Dhaware’s husband, a constable, was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Navi Mumbai. According to the source, the hospital allegedly botched the treatment, which left the constable with permanent disabilities. However, the hospital authorities were refusing to take any action.

Demanded of increase in grant for disabled people

The disabled man was a resident of Pune and associated with an organisation that wanted to hold a protest outside Mantralaya but was prevented from doing so. He managed to escape the police and arrived at Mantralaya and poured kerosene on himself. The police immediately took him into custody.

The source said the organisation was demanding an increase in government grant for disabled people to ₹3,000 from the current ₹1,500.

The Marine Drive police registered separate cases of attempt to suicide against all three, but after Gadekar’s death on Tuesday, they converted her FIR to an Accidental Death Report.