By IANS,
New Delhi : A day after her first wedding anniversary, a 24-year-old woman was Wednesday found hanging at her home in northwest Delhi, and her parents alleged she was murdered by her “dowry greedy” husband and in-laws.
As a mob of nearly 250 surrounded the house in Pitampura refusing to let the police bring down the body of Astha Jain and demanding that her husband and in-laws be arrested first, the police said they have found a suicide note in which the woman blamed her in-laws for her death.
Astha Jain married Amit Jain, whose family runs a steel manufacturing factory in Rajasthan, April 29 last year. Her body was discovered hanging from the ceiling of her bedroom at her Pitampura house in the afternoon.
On hearing about her death, Astha’s father Ashok Jain, an affluent paper merchant in the Indian capital, and nearly 250 relatives and friends gathered outside the house and stopped the police from removing the body.
“We will not let the police take her body till they arrest Amit Jain, his father Ram Prasad and his mother Aasha on the charge of murder. They have murdered my daughter for dowry and hanged her from the ceiling,” thundered a furious Ashok Jain.
“Astha’s in-laws were greedy for dowry. Their greed for money killed my daughter. Since her marriage, they have been demanding cash and a car. We had given them a Mercedes car and huge amounts money,” he said.
“On Holi day they made more demands. And now on her first marriage anniversary Tuesday, they had again harassed her for more dowry. Astha’s brother-in-law Jugal Jain had also left his wife for dowry,” he said.
A suicide letter recovered from the scene read: “I am committing suicide as my in-laws have been harassing me for … dowry.”
A large number of policemen at the site appeared helpless in the face of the angry crowd. A police officer admitted the body could not be taken out of the house for post-mortem examination for more than six hours.
Later the police had to resort to a mild baton charge when the grieving family vandalized the house and the Mercedes car and tried to lay hands on Astha’s in-laws who were holed up inside the house.
“We have sent her body for post-mortem examination. We have detained her in-laws. They will be arrested only after primary investigations. A case has been registered at the Shalimar Bagh police station,” said a senior official. A team has gone to arrest Amit, he added.