Costly gifts, cancelled wedding end in police cases

HYDERABAD: A city-based medical college owner and former information commissioner of undivided Andhra Pradesh, has lodged a complaint of dowry harassment against a pharmaceutical company executive and his family. She has alleged that the accused abruptly called off the marriage with her daughter after collecting costly gifts. A case has been registered under the Dowry Prohibition Act.

Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical executive's father has lodged a counter-complaint against the college owner, alleging that she stormed his residence in Jubilee Hills with 70 associates on April 24, assaulted the watchman and damaged property while the family was away.

In her complaint to the Jubilee Hills police officials on April 25, 56-year-old college owner alleged that in Jan, her family started discussing her daughter's possible marriage to the pharma executive. Her husband had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly elections from Jana Sena in Andhra Pradesh.

"Initially the groom's family claimed they were not interested in dowry. But later they demanded a grand wedding, gifts for the groom's sister, Rs 1 crore for the groom's mother and a BMW M5 worth about Rs 3 crore in the groom's name. They also wanted the wedding to be held at HITEX," the complainant alleged.

She said the pharma executive's family claimed that he was drawing a salary of around Rs 2 crore annually and was in line for a top executive's role in the company.

The complaint stated that her family spent about Rs 55 lakh on the engagement attended by around 400 guests in Feb. "We gifted a Patek Philippe wristwatch worth about Rs 50 lakh, procured the BMW M5 and paid Rs 15 lakh advance for booking a venue at HITEX for the wedding scheduled on June 24," the complainant alleged.

The marriage was allegedly cancelled unilaterally on April 5 by the executive's family. The complainant also accused the executive's family of making defamatory comments about her family's finances, causing severe mental trauma to her daughter.

On the complaint, police officers registered a case on Sunday against the executive, his parents and sister . "We will act after we have collected enough evidence," Jubilee Hills sub-inspector B Vinod Kumar said.

In his counter-complaint, the executive's 59-year-old father alleged that at 1.22 pm on April 24, he received a message from the college owner, saying she was coming to his house with 25 people. He replied that he was not at home. "At around 1.40 pm, she arrived with her son and nearly 70 men. They forcibly entered the premises by breaking open the gate. They assaulted the watchman and created panic in the neighbourhood," he alleged.

He also alleged that the group, brandishing weapons, threatened to kill his family, vandalised the house and damaged CCTV cameras. Jubilee Hills police registered a case of mischief causing loss or damage to property and sections related to house-trespass on April 25 against the college owner and others. No arrests have been made in either case so far.
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