Pune:
In what can be called a twisted saga of love and hate, the Loni Karbhor police apprehended a well-known assistant mechanical professor at College of Engineering Pune (CoEP), after his second wife filed a complaint of dowry harassment and physical abuse against him.
Chandrakant Kunjir was not only a professor at the engineering college but also a member of the University of Pune's academic council and an administrator of the state's Shikshan Shulka Samiti.
The complaint filed by second wife, Sheetal Chandrakant Kunjir, stated that Sheetal married the professor in 2005, at a temple in Raigad District.
She allegedly met him in 1999, when she was a first year engineering student in the college he taught. Sheetal maintained that Kunjir had lied that his first wife was mentally instable and tricked her into a physical relationship promising marriage.
However he refused to marry her until 2005 and divorce his first wife with whom he has a son. Irked by his behaviour, Sheetal went abroad for a job.
She stated that between 2006 and 2009, Kunjir had allegedly withdrawn Rs 20 lakh from her NRI account and another Rs 10 lakh to buy two cars. The account was jointly operated by them, she added.
Sheetal maintained that she relocated to Pune in early 2009, and was impregnated by Kunjir. When she was eight months pregnant, Kunjir's first wife, sister-in-law and son attacked her and beat her up owing to which she had a miscarriage.
Police official at Loni Karbhor station informed, "Sheetal filed a complaint with the Bhartiya Vidyapeeth police station but later withdrew it on Kunjir's insistence.
The couple then started living in Bhakrewadi, far from his first wife. But then the couple started quarrelling and Kunjir moved out as they could not get along."
Officials claimed. Police informed that Kunjir kept visiting her but in July 2011 when Kunjir's visits became seldom, she decided to inquire about his whereabouts and found that Kunjir was not with his first wife, but had rented a flat and was living with his wife's sister, who was eight months pregnant with his child, officials at the Loni Karbhor station confirmed.
Kunjir was produced in court and released on bail on Tuesday afternoon, police officials said.
Dr Anil Sahastrabuddhe, director, CoEP, said that he learnt of the charges and has written to the police, to provide information. "We will institute internal inquiry and if Kunjir is found guilty of any kind of misconduct or moral turpitude, we shall recommend appropriate action," he said.