Mumbai, Mar 21 (Mid-day) : A 17-year-old girl hanged her self from the ceiling fan of her residence on Sunday, moments after a 23-year-old man threatened to rape and throw acid on her face if she didn’t marry him.

The accused, identified as Amin Patel, called her up on March 16 and threatened her after he got to know that her parents had fixed up her marriage with someone else. Patel had been tormenting the girl, forcing her to marry him, despite her objections.

According to the police, Patel and the deceased used to study in the same school and he developed a liking for her then. The girl, however, never paid heed to his advances. Years passed by and six months ago, Patel managed to get her mobile number from a common friend. He began calling, texting her, asking for her hand in marriage.

The girl, a resident of Sahar, finally confided in her parents about the harassment and they decided to meet him a month ago. “The girl’s family members decided to confront Patel to make him understand that it would not be possible to marry her, but he did not listen to them”, said Raghunath Dalvi, an officer at the Sahar police station.

Tormented

The family then fixed her marriage with another man and when Patel got to know about it, he began calling her from different numbers, threatening her on a regular basis. But on Sunday after he threatened to rape her and fling acid at her, the girl unable to handle it anymore and killed herself.

“After Patel heard the girl committed suicide, he fled his MIDC residence. We traced him on Wednesday and arrested him under various sections, including abetment,” said Ravindra Patil, senior police inspector, Sahar police station.