Jharkhand shooter Tara Sahdev's husband Ranjit Kumar Kohli was arrested late on Tuesday night.
Jharkhand shooter Tara Sahdev's husband Ranjit Kumar Kohli was arrested late on Tuesday night after the shooter accused him of forcing her to convert to Islam.
Married just for two months, Ms Sahdev had approached the police and women's commission last week, with a story of duplicity and torture.
During courtship, the rich and influential man she knew as Kohli pretended to be a Hindu, Ms Sahdev told the police. Even his family had helped preserve that illusion. But after the wedding, he asked her to convert. When she refused, she was kept in captivity for a month, before she managed to escape.
All this time, she had been starved and assaulted, Ms Sahdev told the police. The family had even sicced dogs on her.
Ms Sahdev had also pointed fingers at the state's minority welfare minister. It was Kohli's connection with the minister that kept him out of police net, she alleged. The minister, Haji Hussain Ansari, had shrugged off the charge, calling it a "small matter".
Now, the police are tightlipped on the arrest. "We are investigating. The complaint was regarding alleged conversion and abuse," was all that Jharkhand Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar said.
Before his arrest, Kohli had sent an e-mail to the media and the police, claiming he was not a Muslim and that he never asked the girl to convert to Islam. But Ms Sahdev is sticking to her guns.