MEERUT: Upset at the death of her pet cat, a 36-year-old woman allegedly died by suicide in her house in Amroha, UP, on Sat night. Her family said she kept the dead feline with her for three days believing it would “return to life”.
Circle Officer Deep Kumar Pant told TOI that Pooja Devi, a resident of Mohalla Kot, was married in Delhi 10 years ago, and got divorced two years later. “Ever since her divorce, she had been staying with her mother and two brothers in Hasanpur. About three years back, she started taking care of a stray cat which she found on the road. On Thursday, her pet died and she refused to bury her, insisting it would come back alive,” said Pant.
Around 8pm on Saturday, the woman hanged herself from the ceiling fan on the third floor of her house with the dead cat lying next to her. “Preliminary investigation revealed the woman was in depression for years and was seeking medical attention. She was in shock and couldn’t bear the loss after the pet’s death. Her father also died some years back while one of her brothers suffers from mental illness,” added Pant.
Police have handed over the body to her family after a postmortem. Her mother, Gajra Devi, said that Pooja had brought up the light-brown coloured cat like her own child. “She was not letting us bury the dead animal and was sleeping with it for the past few days. Then, when she realised that her cat would not come back, she took her own life,” her mother added.
