Boyfriend surrenders, jailed for death of journo Nirupama Pathak

Koderma (Jharkhand):  Journalist Priyabhansu Ranjan, who was accused of abetting suicide of his girlfriend Nirupama Pathak, today surrendered before a local court and was sent to judicial remand for 14 days. Rejecting his bail petition, sub-divisional judicial magistrate Rakesh Singh sent him to judicial custody. Earlier, Ranjan’s bail plea was rejected by the Jharkhand High Court. He had approached the high court soon after Koderma Chief Judicial Magistrate issued warrants against him in connection with suicide of Nirupama, also a journalist, on 29 April, 2010. [caption id=“attachment_332929” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Pathak, a journalist, was found dead in her parents house in Jharkhand in 2010. Screen grab from CNN IBN”]  [/caption] After Nirupama committed suicide at her residence in Chitra Gupta Nagar Colony here, Ranjan had accused her family of killing their daughter as they were opposed to their marriage. The case was alleged to be one of honour killing. Subsequently, a case of murder was filed against Nirupama’s mother Sudha Pathak and she was arrested. She got bail after remaining three months in judicial custody in 2010. However, the police had later said a forensic laboratory in Kolkata found that the suicide note was signed by Nirupama, and ruled out murder. 22-year-old Nirupama, who was working for a business daily in Delhi, was found dead in her parents’ house in Tilaya in Koderma district under mysterious circumstances. At the behest of Nirupama’s family, a case of rape and abetment to suicide was filed against Ranjan. Her mother had alleged that it was a case of suicide. However, an initial post-mortem report said Nirupama died due to smothering and that she was pregnant. A 10 to 12 week-old foetus was found during the autopsy. It was also claimed that Nirupama and Ranjan were planning to get married but her parents did not approve of the match because he belonged to a lower caste. The couple were batchmates from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi and were reportedly all set to get married on 6 March, 2010 at an Arya Samaj temple in Delhi. In an SMS sent by Nirupama on the day of her death, she told Ranjan to have patience and that she would try and get back. She also told him not to take any extreme step. PTI