Surat: Woman held for killing mother-in-law

Varachha police on Monday arrested one woman and her brother for allegedly killing the woman's mother-in-law. The accused were identified as Dipika Sarvaiya (23) and her brother Dipankar Mandal (22).

According to police, Dipika's husband Sandip alias Devo Sarvaiya (27), a native of Nesadi village in Amreli district, is a diamond worker and lives at Parimal society in Surat. The couple's five-month-old son and Sarvaiya's mother Vimlaben (55) live with them.

Sarvaiya met Dipika four years ago through social media. Sarvaiya went to Dibrugrah in Assam and stayed at Dipika's house for around five months and both got married. After marriage, they shifted to Ahmedabad and a few months back they had shifted to Surat. About two months back, Dipika's siblings Dipankar (22) and a seven-year-old minor brother came to Surat and started living with the couple.

On Saturday night, Sarvaiya went to his job. On Sunday early morning, around 4am, he received a call from his father Jinabhai, saying that he received a missed call from Vimlaben twice but when he called back she was not answering the call.

Sarvaiya tried to contact his mother Vimlaben and wife Dipika but none of them answered the calls.

Then Sarvaiya called his brother-in-law Gopalbhai and requested him to check what was happening with her mother and wife. When Gopalbhai reached their house, he found it was locked and informed this to Sarvaiya.

Sarvaiya soon suspected that his wife might be at the railway station to catch a train to Assam, as in the past she had once gone to her native place without informing the family members.

Gopalbhai rushed to the railway station where he found Dipika, her brother Dipankar and two minor boys. Soon Sarvaiya also reached the railway station and they both brought Dipika and Dipankar to their house. After reaching home, they found Vimlaben's body tied with a rope in the house and informed the police.

When questioned, Dipika told the police that when she and her brother got ready to go to Assam, Vimlaben told her not to go and this led to a fight between them. During the fight, Dipika and Dipankar strangulated Vimlaben. They then locked the house from outside and went to the station. Both the accused were arrested under IPC section 302 (murder).