Hyderabad: Dowry claims 1 more life

Hyderabad: Unable to bear the torture of her techie husband and in-laws for dowry, a 25-year-old housewife committed suicide on Friday. Police said that Jagannadham Meena hanged herself at her home in Karthikeyanagar. Meena’s husband and in-laws were arrested.

Meena, a graduate, belongs to Guntur district, and married Murali Krishna, a Hyderabad-based techie in March 2012. The couple has an 18-month-old son named Vivaan.

Murali, who was working for a software firm in Bengaluru, lost his job a year ago and they shifted to Hyderabad. At the time of marriage her parents gave them Rs 10 lakh and eight grams of gold as dowry. But Murali Krishna, his father Nageshwar Rao, mother Easwari and brother-in-law Vamshi Krishna started harassing her for more dowry. “We gave them cash whenever they asked. When they demanded we gave a gold chain to the child,” Meena’s mother Chadala Eshwari said.

Meena’s friend who came to their home after coming to know about the suicide said that Murali Krishna was coming out of his room with a plate in his hand and his family was watching TV.

“He said she took the decision suddenly. His mother was scolding the child for crying near his mother’s body,” she said. Police said that while working in Bengaluru, Murali Krishna took a loan of Rs10 lakh for higher studies.

After he lost his job he could not pay the instalment of Rs 30,000 a month. With no other option left, he started harassing his wife Meena to bring some money from her parents.