the goan I network
PANAJI
A delegation from the Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress on Wednesday met the Dean of the Goa Medical College (GMC) Dr Pradeep Naik and demanded an employee at the GMC be suspended for being one of the accused in an alleged murder case.
A 25-year-old lady committed suicide by hanging on January 9 at her residence in the staff quarters of the GMC. She was residing at the quarters with her husband and her in-laws. Her father-in-law works at the GMC.
The Congress mahila delegation alleged that the lady did not commit a suicide but was murdered by her in-laws and husband for dowry. They also demanded a thorough post-mortem in the matter.
Dr Naik however said that action could be initiated against the alleged accused only after a FIR is registered against the said person.
“The victim had called her cousin earlier that night telling him about the harassment meted out to her by her husband’s family. In the morning, she was found dead. It is evident that her husband’s family harassed and killed the lady,” alleged Mahila Congress President Adv Pratima Coutinho. “This is killing for dowry and, we will continue to raise our voice against any crime against women,” added Coutinho.
The deceased lady, a native of Andhra Pradesh, was married to one Maheshrao Ananthu in September 2017. Maheshrao is a police personel in the Indian Reserve Battalion and stays in the GMC residential quarters along with his father Somayya Ananthu and mother Ramanamma.
Though the husband’s family says that the woman committed suicide by hanging herself in a room, the mother and father of the lady, in a complaint, have alleged that her husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law killed their daughter as they expected more dowry.
The father of the victim has said that a dowry of Rs 8 lakh was paid to the family at the time of her wedding, the in-laws were harassing their daughter for an additional Rs 5 lakh.
The victim’s family raised the initial money for dowry by selling their farmland. Her father has alleged that she was continuously harassed by her in-laws, who had also sent her back to Andra Pradesh twice, threatening her not to come to Goa again. The case is being investigated by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM).
