Mumbai, A local court on Monday granted bail to Anant Garje, the personal assistant to Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde, arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of his dentist wife last November.
The bail was allowed by Additional Sessions Judge Rupali Pawar. A reasoned order was not available yet.
Garje had stated in his bail plea that the case against him was “based merely on suspicion and assumptions without any substantive facts”.
Citing the investigation, police had opposed the bail plea, stating that the accused caused physical and mental distress to his wife.
Garje’s wife Dr. Gauri Palve,28, hanged herself in her flat at Worli in central Mumbai on November 22, allegedly due to a domestic dispute, around nine months after their marriage.
She had been working as a dentist in the civic-run KEM Hospital.
Based on a complaint filed by Palve’s father, the Worli police had registered a case under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on charges of abetment of suicide, criminal intimidation, and voluntarily causing hurt, among others, leading to Garje’s arrest on November 24, 2025.
Palve’s family alleged that she took the extreme step due to torture and harassment by Garje, police said.
Garje, in his plea filed through advocate Mangesh Deshmukh, stated that the allegations against him were “vague’, and that he was “absolutely innocent” and falsely implicated.
“The FIR is a result of an afterthought and emotional distress after the tragic incident,” the plea said.
The accused submitted that the FIR does not disclose any direct, specific, or proximate act of abetment or cruelty attributable to them, which could constitute an offence under BNS.
Police had said that on November 22, 2025, the accused threatened to commit suicide to hide his own mistakes and recorded a voice clip to frame his wife.
He sent this audio clip to her, and out of fear that he would tarnish her social image by sending it to others, his wife was driven to end her life, police said.
Palve’s family had alleged that Garje had an extra-marital affair, and the victim caught him while chatting with another woman on a mobile phone.
Citing testimonies of witnesses, police stated that Garje frequently quarrelled with his wife over trivial matters, didn’t give her time, and behaved rudely.
The Prosecution contended that the case involves the suicide of a female doctor, making it highly sensitive and serious in nature, police said.
The court, however, granted bail to the accused.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.