Horticulture officer behind bars for dowry

He cast aspersions on his wifes character and sent divorce notice

He has been remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.

Thottaiah T, a native of Chitradurga district and posted at Koppa taluk of Chikmagalur district, has been accused of demanding Rs five lakh from his wife Babitha alias Lakshmi (26), even as he was paid an equal sum at the time of marriage on December 14, 2006.

According to the complainant, her family helped the accused get the job in 2007. Till then, he lived in his father-in-law’s house in Jayanagar 1st block.

Demanded more

“He and his family kept demanding more dowry even after the marriage. I lived with him for a year or so peacefully. But, it began getting difficult staying with him, when he cast aspersions on my character and sent a notice of divorce after I refused to fulfill the demand for dowry,” Babitha told Deccan Herald.

She said, her father, a retired HAL employee, was suffering from gangrene and was also sightless. “Yet, he kept harassing her, for the sole reason that he is probably fed up of her and wants to marry another girl,” alleged Babitha’s aunt.

The elders tried to reconcile the couple, but their efforts did not fructify. Thottaiah, however, put up a brave front and maintained that it was Babitha’s uncle Chikkavenkatappa, a retired assistant commissioner in Revenue Department, who was responsible for the sordid affair. “This is a planned conspiracy. He is trying to book false cases against me by tapping his influence,” the accused told Deccan Herald.

Free publicity

Babitha prays that her husband is reformed and gives up harassing her. “He loved me in the beginning, but not anymore,” she said remorsefully. “My husband is bent upon ruining my life. He even told mediapersons that the case would fetch him free publicity,” she alleged.

Apart from Thotaiah, the complainant has also lodged a complaint of dowry harassment against his mother Anumakka, elder sister Puttalakshmi and elder brother Chandrashekhar. Police maintain that Thottaiah has been found guilty in the primary investigation and hence was arrested.