Daijiworld Media Network
Aug 2: In a shocking incident, a 25-year-old chartered accountant was suffocated to death by her in-laws in Tamil Nadu for not being able to fulfill their dowry demands.
In 2013, Divya’s marriage was fixed with Elan Cheran, a doctor by profession. Elan’s family while fixing the alliance said that they wanted only the girl. However, when the wedding day started approaching, they started making demands which Divya’s family agreed.
"We gave Elan Cheran’s family 100 sovereigns of gold, Rs 15 lac for a car, Rs 30 lac cash and 5 kg of silver as dowry. Even then, Elan Cheran’s mother picked up a fight the very next day of the wedding. She took Divya’s gold and claimed we gave two sovereigns less. We immediately arranged for the two gold sovereigns," recalls Divya’s brother Premkumar.
However, the dowry demands did not subside even after the wedding. Divya was sent back multiple times to get money.
"We have given them money multiple times in the last four years… Once we gave Rs 4 lac, once it was Rs 3 lac, once it was Rs 50,000. In total, we have given them around Rs 15 to 20 lac over the years. Ten days ago, she came back home saying her in-laws had now demanded Rs 10 lac. We sent her back, saying we will try to arrange the money, but we didn’t know they would kill her for this," he says.
On July 17, Premkumar received a call at around 10.30 pm from the mother-in-law stating Divya is not keeping well.
"By the time I reached their home, Divya was taken to the government hospital. She was dead and had multiple injury marks on her body. It was here I realized that my sister was murdered," says the distraught brother who filed a complaint in Mannargudi town police station the very next day.
According to a senior police official, the father-in-law confessed that he along with two other men suffocated Divya. The in-laws were planning to marry Elan Cheran to another girl for dowry and hence decided on murdering Divya.
The police have arrested Elan Cheran, his parents and two other men - Shivakumar and Senthil under Section 498 A and Section 302. They are remanded in the Tiruchi central prison.
Premkumar laments that his sister had come back home over 20 times since she was married. However, they still kept sending her back and tried to fulfill the in-laws greed rather than complaining to the police.
"Once she had come home crying that her father-in-law hit her for not doing the household chores properly. Yet we sent her back saying things will be fine. I feel guilty about it," he regrets.
Elan and Divya have a three year old child.