MUMBAI: A personal assistant of Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde was arrested here on Monday on charges of abetting the suicide of his dentist wife, police said.
The accused Anant Garje was produced before a magistrate's court, which remanded him to police custody till November 27.
Police told the court that Garje's interrogation is necessary as the other accused in the case are yet to be arrested and the postmortem report is awaited.
Garje's lawyer, however, contended that the accused had voluntarily presented himself at the police station and was fully cooperating in the investigation.
Garje's wife Dr Gauri Palve (28), a dentist at civic-run KEM hospital in Mumbai, allegedly hanged herself in her flat at Worli in central Mumbai on Saturday due to a domestic dispute, nearly 10 months after their marriage, an official said.
Based on a complaint filed by Palve's father, the Worli police registered an abetment of suicide case against Garje, a personal assistant to Minister Munde, and two of his relatives.
According to the police, the couple tied the knot on February 7 this year.
In their police complaint, Palve's family alleged that Garje had an extra-marital affair, and she caught him chatting with another woman on a mobile phone.
The couple would fight over the issue, and Garje allegedly threatened his wife, police said.
Palve's uncle alleged that she did not commit suicide, but it was a case of murder.
He also demanded an in-camera post-mortem and a CBI probe into the case.
Meanwhile, Rupali Chakankar, chairperson of the Maharashtra Women's Rights Commission, on Monday said the parents of Palave have expressed suspicion over their daughter's death by suicide.
"State Women's Rights Commission will follow up on the entire investigation. The commission is with the family of Palave, and it will continue to extend the support till the investigation is ongoing," she said.