Representative image of dowry.
Credit: iStock photo
Bengaluru: The Sudduguntepalya police have arrested a 38-year-old man after his wife was found dead at their home in southeast Bengaluru, the police said on Thursday.
The suspect is Praveen, a former software engineer who, as per the FIR, quit his job a year after marrying Shilpa B Panchangamatha (27) and began selling pani puri. The couple has a 1-year-and-10-month-old son.
The police registered a case under Section 80 (dowry death) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
The FIR, filed on August 27, followed a complaint by Shilpa’s mother, Sharada B Panchangamatha.
Sharada told the police that Shilpa, also a software engineer with a city-based firm until the birth of her child, married Praveen from Koppal in 2022. The families had agreed to the match as both were working in the IT sector.
“The wedding expenses were around Rs 35 lakh, and the groom was given 150 grams of gold ornaments as dowry. A year after the wedding, Praveen quit his job and began selling pani puri at BTM Layout,” the FIR quoted Sharada as saying.
“After the wedding, Praveen and his mother, Shantavva, tortured my daughter physically and mentally for more money. Shantavva even told my daughter she was not the right match and that they would get him remarried if she left. Once, I had to send my daughter back with Rs 5 lakh cash,” the FIR added.
On August 26, around 9:15 pm, the family was informed that Shilpa had died by suicide at their house in BTM 1st Stage. Her body was found on the bed in her room, covered with a bedsheet.
Foul play suspected
Speaking to the media, one of Shilpa’s relatives questioned the circumstances of her death.
“If she had died by suicide, then how did they remove her body before the police arrived, and why did they first claim it was a heart attack? It is a pre-planned murder. She was also one-and-a-half months pregnant,” the relative alleged.
One of Shilpa’s sisters also alleged foul play. “Her mother-in-law used to body shame her frequently. They have murdered her. They are lying that it was death by suicide. She was also being tortured frequently,” Soumya told reporters.