Pimpri-Chinchwad: Social activist Trupti Desai on Saturday demanded that police investigate the death of 42-year-old Shilpa Gaware from the angle of murder and not treat suicide as the final conclusion. Desai visited the Gaware family and later went to Wakad Police Station. She met Senior Police Inspector Vitthal Salunkhe and urged police to examine the allegations made by the family.
Gaware died at her home in Wakad on August 27. Police initially registered the case as a suicide and later booked her husband and in-laws over allegations of harassment. Her family has claimed that she was murdered after prolonged physical and mental harassment linked to property and financial disputes. After meeting the family and speaking to police, Desai spoke to the media outside the police station.
‘Investigate murder angle’
Desai said the case is currently being presented as a suicide, but the family has strongly disputed this. “The family maintains that this was not a suicide, but that her in-laws harassed her and murdered her,” Desai said.
She said investigators should keep the possibility of homicide in mind while conducting the probe. Desai also raised concerns over the safety of women even in wealthy families.
“If daughters are being harassed like this even in ultra-wealthy, elite families, it is truly tragic,” she said. She alleged that money and wealth can sometimes create a sense of arrogance among suspects and demanded strict action against those found guilty of harassing women. "They should not just be kept in police custody; they should be paraded through the streets. Only then will their arrogance over their wealth fade away," she said.
Questions fast-track justice
Desai also questioned the pace of proceedings in the Vaishnavi Hagawane case -- the case which happened last year in Bavdhan. The 23-year-old from Wakad allegedly died after facing dowry-related harassment at her matrimonial home in Bavdhan in 2025. The case was sent to a fast-track court, but Desai pointed out that a conviction has not yet been delivered.
“The Vaishnavi Hagawane case is also in a fast-track court, but a sentence hasn't been pronounced even in the district court yet. So when will these girls actually get justice?” she said.
Desai said simply sending cases to fast-track courts was not enough. She called for police to file chargesheets quickly and for trials to be completed within a few months. She said a conviction in such cases should ideally be delivered within three months.
Cites Nasrapur case
Desai also referred to the Nasrapur child rape and murder case, where a special fast-track court delivered a death sentence to the convicted accused in about two months.
She questioned why similar urgency could not be shown in cases involving alleged domestic violence and the deaths of married women. “If a verdict can be delivered in two months in the Nasrapur case, why can't it happen in this Pimpri-Chinchwad case?” she asked.
Desai urged the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissioner Vinoy Kumar Choubey to take the initiative to ensure that the chargesheet is filed at the earliest. She said this could help the district court deliver a verdict within two months.
Calls for stronger deterrence
Desai said incidents of alleged harassment and violence against women are being reported repeatedly in Pimpri-Chinchwad and across Maharashtra. She said the Vaishnavi Hagawane case had drawn widespread attention and involved prominent political leaders, but the suspects have not yet been convicted.
According to Desai, delays in punishment can create a perception that offenders will escape the consequences of their actions. “Perpetrators who inflict abuse or take the law into their own hands no longer have any fear of the law,” she said.
She called for swift convictions in cases involving crimes against women, saying punishment must come quickly to restore confidence in the law and deter others from committing similar offences. The investigation into Gaware's death is continuing. Desai's demand comes as police examine the allegations made by her family against her husband and in-laws.
