Pune woman found hanging at home; husband detained, in-laws booked over harassment

Swargate police have taken Akshay Zambare into custody in connection with the death of Payal Pawar Zambare, 29, who lived in Mukund Nagar, Pune. A case has also been registered against his mother, father and sister, that is, Payal's mother-in-law, father-in-law and sister-in-law.

Payal was the daughter-in-law of the family that runs the well-known Zambare Palace in Pune. She died by hanging herself with a rope at her own home in Mukund Nagar. The incident has caused considerable anger in the area, and a serious allegation of domestic harassment has emerged in the case.

Payal's parental family, the Pawars, lodged a complaint with the police. According to the complaint, her in-laws had been subjecting her to continuous mental and physical harassment since the marriage. It alleges that her mother-in-law, father-in-law, husband and sister-in-law repeatedly pressed her to bring more money and gold from her parents' home. The Pawar family directly alleges that Payal, unable to bear this harassment by her in-laws, hanged herself at home. On the basis of this complaint, police registered a case against the four and detained her husband, Akshay Zambare.

On receiving news of Payal's death, angry relatives from her parental side, along with a crowd of 15 to 20 people, reached the well-known Zambare Palace in Maharshi Nagar at around 2 pm on Monday. The palace is a wedding hall. The crowd entered the building and extensively vandalised the furnishings inside.

The attack in broad daylight on a well-known wedding hall in the heart of Pune created an atmosphere of fear and tension across the premises.

After the vandalism, Swargate police immediately deployed heavy security at Zambare Palace and the surrounding area as a precaution. Payal's body has been sent for post-mortem. Following the registration of the case at Swargate police station, her husband Akshay Zambare is being questioned closely. Police have said the other suspected accused in the case, the mother-in-law, father-in-law and sister-in-law, will also be questioned.