Dowry death: Even Rs 15 lakh for car, Rs 30 lakh cash and 5 kg of silver could not save this CA's life
Synopsis
Divya's parents had coughed up dowry multiple times, but her in-laws were never satisfied. She had returned to her parents multiple time, but she was forced to return to her in-laws saying things would just be fine. She was strangled to death by her in-laws. Although her husband was not involved, even he has been booked for harassment.
In a spine-chilling case of dowry death in Tamil Nadu, a chartered accountant was strangulated to death for dowry. 22-year-old Divya had hopes of a happy married life after her would-be in-laws told her that they did not want anything as dowry, but only her as their daughter-in-law. Her parents were elated too when they found that their son-in-law-Elan Cheran-was a doctor and belongs to such a 'cultured' family. However, things started changing when the marriage day approached.
Cheran's family started demanding for dowry which surprised Divya's family. However, they fulfilled all their wishes and 'gifted' the family with 100 sovereigns of gold, Rs 15 lakh for a car, Rs 30 lakh cash and 5 kg of silveras dowry. Divya's brother Premkumar said, "But Elan Cheran’s mother was not happy with it." Premkumar further recalled, "The day after the wedding, she took all the gold from Divya and started fighting with her, claiming that we had given two sovereigns of gold less than we promised. She called us, and I immediately went and bought two sovereigns of gold and gave it to them."
Their demands started coming more frequently and they tortured Divya if there was any delay in fulfilling them. This had upset Divya and she went back to her parents several times complaining about the same. However, her brother reprimanded her everytime and sent her back. Speaking to the media, Premkumar said, "We have given them money multiple times in the last four years… Once, we gave Rs 4 lakh, once it was Rs 3 lakh, once it was Rs 50,000. In total, we have given them around Rs 15 to 20 lakh over the years." He also said, "Ten days ago, she came back home, saying her in-laws had now demanded Rs 10 lakh. We sent her back, saying we will try to arrange the money, but we didn’t know they would kill her for this."
That was not all, a year back, Divya's mother-in-law said that she could not do household chores properly and her father-in-law hit her for that. She came back to her parents house, but they advised her to go back saying that such things always happen and things will be fine. Her brother Premkumar said, "She had a three-year-old child, and she had to take care of him…”
However, even that was not sufficient and they murdered Divya on July 17.
On that ill-fated day, Divya's mother-in-law reportedly called her parents and informed them that she was not doing well. Her brother recalled, "Around 10.30pm that night, her mother-in-law called me and asked me to come to their house, saying that Divya is unwell. By the time, I reached their home, they had taken her to a government hospital. When I reached the hospital, I realised she was murdered by her in-laws. She had marks all over her body."
The next day, he filed a complaint with the Mannargudi town police station. Following investigation, a senior official said, "During the investigation, we found out that three men, including her father-in-law, had murdered her. The father-in-law told us during the interrogation that he and his wife wanted to get their son married to another woman, to get more dowry. So, they decided to kill her." Although the husband was not charged with the murder, he was booked for dowry harassment. Till now, police have arrested five people in the case-Divya’s husband Elan Cheran, his parents, and two other men - Shivakumar and Senthil.All of them have been remanded in the Tiruchi central prison and a case has been filed under Section 498 A and Section 302.