Date:17/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/17/stories/2007051718750400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Woman ends life, dowry harassment suspected

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Investigation into the mysterious death of Shyamala (26), wife of a canteen owner, in J.C. Nagar police station limits on Tuesday has revealed that she had committed suicide as her husband was torturing her for dowry.

Shyamala's husband Krishna had told the police that she had hanged herself from a ceiling fan at her house in S.K. Garden and that he had untied the body. But bloodstains found on Shyamala's limbs led to doubts about the cause of death. Shyamala parents, who arrived from Udupi on Tuesday night, told the police that Krishna had been harassing her for dowry. The jurisdictional tahsildar, who conducted an inquest, had given a report that Shyamala had ended her life because of harassment, Assistant Commissioner of Police (J.C. Nagar) U.P. Shivarama Reddy said. The mother of a three-year-old girl, Shyamala, had married Krishna of Thirthahalli five years ago after the death of his first his wife Susheela, who had allegedly set herself on fire. Later, Krishna had been arrested by Devarajeevanahalli police in connection with Susheela's death and he had been in jail for some time. Susheela's two sonswere being cared for by Shyamala's parents in Udupi, the police said.