Police in India have arrested two men accused of dumping a woman’s body in a river following a botched abortion — and drowning her two young children after they witnessed the crime.
The men accused are the woman’s lover, Gajendra Dagadkhair, and his friend Ravikant Gaikwad. According to news reports, the 25-year-old woman, Samreen Nissar Nevrekar, was having an extramarital affair with Dagadkhair. When she was found to be pregnant, he arranged for Gaikwad to take her for an abortion at Amar Hospital in Kalamboli on July 9, and she died during the procedure. Some reports say she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, which led to complications during the abortion procedure.
Following her death, the two men panicked and dumped her body in the Indrayani River in Maharashtra’s Pune. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Bapu Bangar, the woman’s children witnessed the event before they too were killed.
“A missing person’s case was registered at Talegaon MIDC police station. During the investigation, it was found that the woman’s lover had sent her to Thane with his friend for an abortion,” DCP Bangar explained. “The woman is believed to have died during the procedure. Subsequently, the lover’s friend brought back the body and the woman’s two children, and with the help of the lover, disposed of the body in the Indrayani in the early hours of July 9. When the woman’s two children, aged two and five, started crying, the accused threw them into the river.”
Police say they are also investigating whether the woman died during an illegal abortion procedure, though women are routinely injured and even killed during botched abortion procedures that are not illegal.
The bodies of Nevrekar and her two young children have not yet been discovered. Police say Dagadkhair and Gaikwad have confessed to the crime, and they will both remain in custody until at least July 30.
