Ahmedabad couple commit suicide in Sabarmati

AHMEDABAD: Bodies of a 23-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl were recovered from Sabarmati river by Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) personnel on Sunday morning near riverfront behind National Institute of Design (NID) in Paldi area of the city.

The man has been identified as Shankar Vanjhara, a resident of Kabir Chowk in Sabarmati, and the girl has been identified as Pooja Thakor, who is also a resident of the same area. Both of them were unmarried. An official of Sabarmati Riverfront (West) police said that love affair seems to be the reason behind the extreme step.

“Vanjhara, who used to work as a daily wager, frequently visited the food outlet of Thakor’s father in Sabarmati. There, he fell in love with Thakor and the two used to meet at the outlet. Two months back, Thakor’s father came to know about their affair and he scolded Vanjhara for having an affair with his minor girl and also told him that he would file a police complaint if he does not stop meeting his daughter,” said an officials of Sabarmati Riverfront (West) police station, where the case of accidental death has been lodged.

“On Friday, the couple left their homes to flee to some other area, but they might have known from someone that the girl’s father was going to lodge a complaint with Sabarmati police after which they decided to commit suicide,” said an official.

It seems that they had jumped into the river on Friday and their bodies were recovered on Sunday. Police have sent the bodies for postmortem.

This is the second case of a couple committing suicide at the same place, apparently due to difference in their ages.

On March 24, Kamlesh Parmar (27), a resident of Khanusa village in Vankarvas of Vijapur taluka of Mehsana district, who worked at a private firm in Vijapur, and Shweta Parmar (16), a resident of Danilimda area of the city, had committed suicide in Sabarmati.

When their bodies were recovered, their hands were tied with a handkerchief.