The Lucknow-based doctor who was arrested for ill-treating his wife, likely to be charged for hiding his HIV+ status from wife.

Dr. Harshvardhan Chaturvedi was arrested on Friday by Dhantoli Police (Nagpur) for torturing his wife Anjali (name changed). His mother Ashadevi was also arrested, while his father Dr. Prakashchandra Chaturvedi and sister Jaya have been made co-accused in the case. Dr. Harshvardhan and his father are attached to the reputed Baba Benarasi Das Dental College in Lucknow.

Anjali's family has claimed that she was infected by her husband who neither disclosed his medical status to her nor took care to prevent passing on the deadly infection. "Whenever Anjali complained of ill-health, she was ignored and treated badly by her in-laws," said Anjali's brother. Anjali and Harshvardhan were married for six years.

Said city police chief SPS Yadav: "If we find out during investigation that Dr. Chaturvedi fully knew about his health status and intentionally concealed it from his wife, he would be held responsible for passing the deadly disease to his wife.". Apart from neglecting Anjali's health, her in-laws also tortured her on various occassions during the last six years, the victim's family claimed.

Meanwhile, Dhantoli police team has reached Lucknow to investigate the involvement of Anjali's father-in-law Dr. Prakashchandra Chaturvedi and sister-in-law Jaya Chaturvedi in the matter.

"Police have learnt that Dr. Chaturvedi was taking Ayurvedic treatment for his health condition in Hyderabad prior to the marriage and we need to verify this,' Yadav said.

"Though Chaturvedi was based in Bijapur when the marriage was fixed, he insisted that the ceremony was held in Nagpur probably because he feared being exposed," claimed Anjali's brother.

Anjali came to know about the HIV status of her husband only two years ago. Only in December last year, she found that she was also infected with the disease.