Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA and former state forest minister Umang Singhar was booked for abetment of suicide after a 40-year-old woman was found dead at his bungalow in Bhopal on Sunday.
An FIR has been registered against Umang Singhar under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code basis his recorded conversations and chat history with the woman and her son’s statement.
Madhya Pradesh: A woman allegedly died by suicide at the residence of Congress MLA Umang Singhar, in Bhopal.
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2021
ASP Bhopal Rajesh Singh Bhadoriya says, “Postmortem was done today, report awaited. Statements of her mother & son were recorded. Further investigation is underway.” pic.twitter.com/tQybrupUHg
Singhar is said to have met the widowed woman on a matrimonial site last year and got engaged to her in December 2020 while still being married to his first wife.
Additional superintendent of police (ASP) Rajesh Bhadoriya informed, “The woman had been living in the MLA’s bungalow for the past 20 days while he was visiting his assembly constituency of Gandhwani in Dhar district.”
“They met many times in Bhopal and at the woman’s hometown in Punjab in the past few months. Recently, she told her family she was in depression due to regular fights with Singhar,” the ASP added.
The body was found by the house help employed at the Congress leader’s Shahpura bungalow who informed the police immediately. A suicide note was also recovered from the woman’s articles accusing Singhar of anger issues and lack of clarity on some matters.
The statements of the house help and the woman’s mother and son have been recorded. An investigation is underway.
The son’s statement
The 20-year-old son of the woman arrived from Ambala on Monday. During a media interaction claimed that he does not fear anyone.
The boy informed the police that his widowed mother met Singhar on a matrimonial website in September last year and they decided to get married.
Singhar’s first wife
Umang Singhar’s estranged wife lives in Indore with their two sons. Sources close to Singhar revealed that the two are at loggerheads, however, the couple had not filed for a divorce.
Umang Singhar’s statement
Singhar has blamed the Bhartiya Janta Party for his private affairs. Claiming that he has lost a “dear friend”, the MLA said, “I am cooperating with the police in the investigation but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government is doing dirty politics on this issue.”
However, as per reports, upon realizing that a case was to be filed against him, the Congress MLA wrote a letter to IG Bhopal requesting him not to register a case against him.
Singhar in the letter claimed that he is a public representative and is busy helping the people of his constituency amidst the pandemic. He also claimed that he got to know about the suicide only through media and was unaware that his friend was reeling under stress. He also appealed that the matter should be investigated thoroughly before filing an FIR. The authenticity of the letter has not been determined.
