Woman kills 19-year-old daughter following fight over her boyfriend

A 40-year-old woman in Mumbai arrested for murdering her 19-year-old daughter over disapproved life partner choice. Mother's lie exposed by postmortem report.

MUMBAI: The Nirmal Nagar police have arrested a 40-year-old woman for allegedly murdering her 19-year-old daughter following an argument over the latter’s choice of her life partner. The mother claimed that her daughter had a natural death, but the postmortem report helped the police nail her lie.

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According to the police, Tina Umesh Bagde, 40, worked as a domestic help and her husband died by suicide two years ago due to the family’s deteriorating financial situation. Bhumika Bagde, a first-year commerce student, wanted to marry a man whom her mother disapproved of. An argument broke out between the mother and daughter a little before midnight on Sunday, which soon transitioned into a physical fight.

“The family lives in a chawl in Kherwadi in Bandra East. The man Bhumika wanted to marry was into substance abuse, so her mother did not approve of the match,” said a police officer. “During their fight, Bhumika bit off a part of her mother’s right hand index finger. An angered Tina strangulated her daughter in response.”

After the mother realised what she had done, she approached the police saying her daughter had passed away after an asthmatic fit. The police promptly registered an accidental death report (ADR) and sent the body for postmortem.

“We had noticed Tina’s missing finger when she spoke to us on Monday morning. When we asked her about it, she said that she had lost the finger as it was caught in the door at home while she was rushing out to get help for her daughter,” said the officer.

The postmortem report revealed that Bhumika’s death was caused by strangulation, marks of which were visible around her neck. Thereafter, the police launched a probe under the supervision of deputy commissioner of police for zone 8, Dikshitkumar Gedam and assistant commissioner of police for Kherwadi division, Suhas Kambale. The probe was guided by senior inspector Shrimant Shinde and led by inspector Abdul Rauf Shaikh.

The police questioned Tina’s two younger children, both minors, who were present at home when the incident occurred. Her son aged 10 years revealed the exact sequence of events to the police, which was corroborated by her younger daughter aged 17 years.

The police then converted the ADR into an FIR and booked Tina under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code. “We have arrested the accused. She will be in custody till March 16,” said an official.