Pune: Payal's in-laws arrested after husband in dowry harassment case over her death

Pune, November 4, 2026: There has been a fresh development in the case over the death of Payal Pawar-Zambre and the dowry harassment allegations linked to it. Swargate police have arrested her mother-in-law Mangala Zambre and father-in-law Arvind Zambre. Payal's husband, Akshay Zambre, had already been arrested.

Police say that before her death Payal sent her brother a message in which she held her mother-in-law responsible. She is also said to have told him that her in-laws were demanding five tola of gold for Diwali.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Milind Mohite, Payal's family gave 50 tola of gold and Rs 25 lakh in cash at the time of her marriage to Akshay in 2019. A case has been registered at Swargate police station against the husband, the in-laws and the sister-in-law under sections relating to dowry harassment and other offences. The investigation is on.

Payal was found dead on November 2 in a flat in Akshay Heights housing society in Mukundnagar. Police said she had left home in the evening a day earlier after a quarrel with her mother-in-law. On Monday morning, after a call from her in-laws, her family began searching for her.

Payal's family alleges that since the marriage she was mentally and physically harassed over dowry demands. The family claims her in-laws demanded five to 10 tola of gold every Diwali. The family are farmers and were short of money because of drought conditions, so they had asked for time to meet the demand.

The family also alleges that Payal was harassed during her pregnancy in 2022 as well, because her husband and in-laws wanted a son. Payal gave birth to a daughter on March 30, 2023. It is alleged that the in-laws then created a commotion at the hospital and refused to take any responsibility for Payal or the child.

Payal had an MSc in computer science and worked at an IT company. Relatives allege that although a chance of promotion was near, her in-laws were pressuring her to quit her job and look after the household.

Police are investigating all these allegations, including both the circumstances before Payal's death and the alleged dowry demand.