MUMBAI, March 22: The wife of gangster Ashok Shelar (32) of the Kashinath Mahadev Chaudhary gang, Pushpa (29), hung herself to death today after Ashok was killed in a police encounter late last night. Both were cremated at the Dombivli crematorium this evening.Thane (rural) police had got information that Ashok - wanted for 16 offences ranging from murder to extortion to dacoity - would be coming to Kudavli MIDC area in Murbad, Thane district, on Sunday night. A trap was accordingly laid. Spotting Shelar inside an approaching white Fiat, constable J S Killedar of Kasara police station tried to stop the vehicle, but those inside the car opened fire at him. Killedar was saved as he was wearing a bullet-proof jacket.Noticing that the firing had not stopped Killedar, Shelar stepped out and fired two rounds at sub-inspector P B Tayde of Kasara police. Tayde returned the fire, killing Shellar on the spot.Meanwhile, the other occupants of the car fled toward Shahapur, but though they were intercepted bypolice en route at a check post, they managed to escape.When news of the encounter reached Khambalpada village (where Shelar has his home) this morning, his wife Pushpa shut herself in the house and committed suicide by hanging herself at around 10.30 am. Cries from her daughter Seema (9) alerted neighbours, who rushed her to a private hospital in Dombivli. ``But she was declared dead before admission,'' pointed out Keshav Kalan, a neighbour who had helped rush her to hospital. While this tragedy was playing itself out, Shellar's body too arrived in Khambalpada at noon.An expressionless Seema stood quietly with her relatives and neighbours as the last rites were performed on the deceased couple jointly at the Dombivli crematorium amid tight police security today.Kalan said Shelar's wife had been persistently asking him to quit the world of crime, but he rebuked her constantly.
