'She uncovered his affair, secret Rs 2.5-cr loan': Punjab doctor 'who helped fund' husband's eye hospital found dead

JALANDHAR: A 37-year-old doctor was found dead at her residence on Wednesday, following which her husband, an eye surgeon, was booked on charges of abetment of suicide.The deceased, Dr Minakshi, worked at the Civil Hospital in Kapurthala, while her husband, Dr Piyush Sood, runs a private hospital on Kapurthala Road in Jalandhar. The couple had been living separately since last year.In a complaint to police, Dr Minakshi's father, Parmod Kumar, a resident of Jalalabad in Fazilka district, alleged that his daughter had been subjected to harassment due to her husband's alleged extramarital affairs, physical abuse and financial misconduct.According to the FIR, soon after her marriage in 2018, Dr Minakshi took a loan of Rs 35 lakh to help her husband establish the National Eye Care Hospital. She repaid the loan instalments from her salary.The complainant alleged that in 2023, Dr Minakshi discovered that her husband was involved in extramarital affairs. While looking into the matter, she allegedly found a video of him with another woman. The video clip was later handed over to the police as part of the complaint.Kumar stated that the family initially tried to resolve the issue by counselling Dr Sood and urging him to mend his ways. However, he alleged that the situation worsened and that Dr Sood began physically assaulting his daughter."In 2025, he also tried to kill my daughter by strangulating her. She informed the police helpline about the incident. After that, she started living separately in a rented accommodation," the complainant alleged in the FIR.He further alleged that when Dr Minakshi later approached a bank while planning to purchase a house in Jalandhar, she discovered through her CIBIL report that a loan of Rs 2.5 crore had allegedly been taken in her name without her knowledge or consent.According to the complaint, when she confronted her husband and his father, Yogeshwar Sood, and asked them to remove her name from the loan, she was allegedly threatened by her husband.The complainant claimed that the alleged harassment and financial burden left Dr Minakshi under severe mental stress, ultimately driving her to take the extreme step.Based on the complaint, police registered a case against Dr Piyush Sood at Division No. 6 police station under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which pertains to abetment of suicide.