Delhi Police have arrested four persons, including a former Congress MlA, on the charges of murder, dowry harassment and breach of trust in connection with the suicide of 27-year-old Rekha, the MlA’s daughter-in-law, while the elder son of the ex-MlA is absconding.
In a related development, a medical board has been formed to probe the medico-legal angle of the incident and post-mortem examination will be conducted on Tuesday at Safdarjung Hospital by a medical board to ascertain the exact reason behind the death as the victim’s family members alleged she was killed by her in-laws for dowry. Area Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) is also carrying an inquest into allegations of dowry.
Police said that the accused have been identified as Sadiram, his wife Dharamwati, son Sudhanshu and his elder daughter-in-law Manisha. The elder son of Sadiram identified as Surendra is absconding and several teams are looking for him. “The arrest was made following allegations by the deceased’s family members before the SDM and on the basis of their allegations, a case was registered at Keshav Puram Police Station,” the officer added. They were later produced before the duty magistrate and Sudhanshu was remanded to two-day police custody; the others were sent to judicial remand.
The victim’s family members had alleged that their daughter was killed for dowry. Rekha’s father Ashok Chaudhary, in his complaint, alleged that few days after marriage, Rekha’s in-laws started demanding more dowry. When he could not fulfil their never-ending demands, they killed his daughter. “They were harassing our daughter for every single thing. She married Sudhanshu in 2012 but was living with her parents for the last six months,” said Rekha’s uncle, Ved Prakash. Rekha was sent to her in-law’s house just five days before she died after intervention from both the families to celebrate Diwali, Ved Prakash added.
After the incident, the victim’s husband first informed his father-in-law, Ashok Chaudhary that his daughter was found hanging inside her room in Tri Nagar area. later, he made a PCR call at 5.20 pm and informed the police about the incident. Meanwhile, angry over the tragic incident, the victim’s family members on Monday staged a protest outside the Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital for post-mortem and blocked the Outer Ring Road for two hours. The family members were unhappy as the post-mortem was not being conducted on time. later, after intervention by senior officers, the matter was sorted out and a medical board was formed.