Suicide or Murder ?

Smita couldn’t sleep the entire night. When Amit asked her the reason behind her pale face, she chose to remain silent and that was disturbing Amit to the core. “Smita Dear, are you petrified of that Exit 2A incident which happened the other day?

You need to move on!” Amit was quite serious with his words and gestures. “No, Amit……………. it’s not that” Smita said in a soft murmur. “Then what’s the matter? You can confide in me” Amit said, while hugging his better half. “How do I explain Amit, when I am not sure myself?” Sikha wondered.

After sharing a hug with Amit, Sikha again started pondering over the matter which has been disturbing her to the hilt. “I don’t think Sunita must have done this?” ………………………Sunita, Smita’s previous maid in Pune had committed suicide and Smita came to know this from her Society’s WhatsApp group of which she is an active member.

Message was shared in the group and what followed was condolences and help, towards Sunita’s family. Smita too did her part and remitted 100 dollars towards the grief-stricken family. But the thought of Sunita resorting to suicide was shaking her from within. Petite and vivacious, Sunita was always full of life. Whenever Smita had any groceries to fetch from the market, or any milk packets to collect from the diary store, Sunita was just a phone call away.

She worked at Smita’s place as a part time maid for two years before Smita and Amit shifted to the US. Smita still remembers the last day, when Sunita had come to bid their family good bye. Despite having a rigid schedule, she made every possible effort in helping Smita with packing and cleaning stuff. When Smita offered her money for the same, she rebuked in a friendly tone, “Kya Bhabi……………. Do saal se idhar kaam ker rahi hoon,Itna lalchi nahi main.

Aap log jaa rahe ho, pata nahi kab miloge. Itna to main apna samajh ke ker sakti…………..” Smita had hugged her for the first time that day, with tears in her eyes. Such a loving and positive person can never resort to suicide. On top of it Sunita had a five-year-old girl whom she loved dearly. She would discuss her with Smita every day.

She can never think of taking such a drastic step. Keeping all her work aside Smita immediately dialed Rani’s number…………………………………. “Hello Rani, Smita here…. How are you doing?” Rani used to be Smita’s neighbor in Pune and Sunita worked as a house help at her place too. “Hi Smita……. We are good! How are you guys? How is US treating you these days?” Rani seemed super excited speaking to her good friend.

“We are good! It’s too cold in Detroit, apart from that all’s well.” Then swallowing a lump in her throat Smita continued………………. “I heard about Sunita’s suicide…. It shook me up. What do you think about it?” There was silence and then in a slow murmur Rani uttered, “Everyone in the society is shocked! I still feel she didn’t commit suicide, but………………………” Before she could add, Smita interrupted her…………………… “Exactly! I echo the same feeling. She can never commit such a heinous act. After all she was a Mom and she knew her responsibility well.

I doubt, it’s her husband Makrand who is hiding something grave…” “But Smita, we don’t have any proof against him. on top of it nobody wants to interfere; all we can do is support her family. That’s it!” Rani seemed persistent. “I understand your point, Rani! but if we remain silent then people like Makrand will take advantage of one more girl like Sunita.” Smita wanted to prove her point to Rani but to no avail. “What’s wrong with society people? Everyone knew what kind of man Makrand was?” Smita kept on blabbering time and again. Smita was not at fault as Sunita had voiced her anger against Makrand several times in front of Smita.

Makrand, an alcoholic never stuck to a single job. Owing to his aggressive nature, he had lost jobs several times in the past too. His expenses were borne by Sunita and instead of appreciating her, he used to shout at her every now and then. Once owing to their fight, Sunita had fled to her Mom’s village in Ahmednagar. All these events were revolving in Smita’s mind, there by making her anxious with each passing second. “If at all I would have been in Pune, I wouldn’t have let this Man go off so easily!” It was becoming hard for Smita to accept the reality.

Amidst this chaos Smita had forgotten to send an urgent email to Amit and hence opened the laptop to work on it. As she was typing the mail, something stuck her and she thought of checking Sunita and Makrand’s profile on social networking site. Though Sunita’s profile wasn’t there, Makrand chougule’s sought her immediate attention. Strong and stout Makrand was seen posing with his sunglasses; as Smita explored further she could find Makrand’s picture with two different ladies.

Not one to let matter go, Smita further looked into the clicks and what she found shocked her from within. Makrand’s last post, showed him with a lady called Rasika chougule, and from the picture it was evident that both were romantically involved with each other. Smita had finally got what she wanted. She immediately searched the number of a local NGO from Pune who looks into the cases of the poor and downtrodden. Her voice was full of concern. She wanted them to look into Sunita’s case with immediate effect. She took screen

shots of Makrand and Rasika’s pictures and sent the same to them. Ms. Sharma Head of the NGO assured her saying…………………… “I don’t know how far we will be successful, but will definitely take up the case with the local police. Maybe they can file a FIR against him…………But Thanks!! Ms. Smita for reaching out to us with all the information.” Smita was relieved! Not because she had done her part but due to the fact that at least people like Makrand can’t roam freely and be part of an investigation. She can’t let them go off so easily.

Barely seven days into this incident, Smita got another piece of news in her society’s WhatsApp group but this time it got back the lost smile on her face. It read…………………… “Sunita never committed Suicide. It was her husband Makrand who fabricated the entire incident. He murdered Sunita and tried showing it up as a Suicide. A local NGO brought up the matter and Police investigated the case from a new angle. RIP Sunita”

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