In her statement to the police, the 41-year-old Pallavi has said that she took the step due to mental torture allegedly caused by former employer advocate Ashok Sarogi. She said Sarogi defamed her on television and in the print media by talking about her alleged love affair with his client Salem.

Senior Police Inspector G T Padwal of Ghatkopar police station said the police have registered an offence against Sarogi for outraging the modesty of a woman. Similar charges have been applied on two other lawyers along with Sarogi, though the police declined to reveal their names. The charges against all three are under Sections 120 (B), 501 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy, printing matter known to be defamatory and outraging a woman’s modesty.

Sarogi refuted all the allegations. “Why would I speak about her love affairs? The love letter was brought out by the media. The allegation of me forging her handwriting and writing the letter is absolutely baseless. Since I am no longer associated with Salem, a conspiracy has been hatched against me,” said Sarogi.

Pallavi, meanwhile, was critical for 12 hours but later declared to be out of danger. A resident of Mahindra Park in Ghatkopar, Pallavi consumed 32 sleeping pills around 2.45 pm on Tuesday. “I came home around 5.30 pm and my children told me that Almas (Pallavi’s name after marriage) was asleep. I was surprised since she never slept till so late in the evening. When I tried to wake her up, she did not respond at all. That is when I found a full page suicide note lying beside her bed. I immediately rushed her to New Life Hospital where after being critical for over 12 hours, she finally is out of danger,” said Khalid Ansari (47), Pallavi’s husband.

Ansari and Pallavi had a love marriage in November 1992 and have two sons, aged 14 years and 10 years. According to Ansari, Pallavi’s note said she was committing suicide because of mental torture. “Pallavi was very upset right from the day a letter surfaced in the media saying she had a love affair with Salem. It was absolutely false and the bogus letter was made by Sarogi using handwriting experts as he was not comfortable by Pallavi still representing Salem after his services were terminated by Salem,” Ansari alleged.

“Pallavi had joined Sarogi’s office in 2002 as his junior and was asked by Sarogi to take briefings from Salem in jail. After some time he asked Pallavi to stop doing so, thinking that she was overtaking him...,”Ansari said, adding: “Lately some of Sarogi’s clients and friends had also started asking Pallavi to get away from Salem’s case.”

Police Inspector Fulsingh Pawar of Ghatkopar police station said Pallavi corroborated what she said in the note while dictating her statement to the police. “Pallavi said that irresponsible quotes given by Sarogi in the media raised questions on her character,” Pawar said.