‘Papa, they will kill me’: Newlywed, 19, calls dad for help, found hanging hours later; kin allege dowry harassment

MEERUT: A 19-year-old newlywed woman was found hanging under suspicious circumstances at her in-laws’ house in Bagadpur Choiya under Adampur police station limits in UP’s Amroha district on Tuesday night, hours after she allegedly called her father, pleaded with him to take her home, and said she feared she would be killed.

Pushpendri Devi’s family alleged dowry death, accusing her husband and in-laws of murdering her after harassing her for Rs 10 lakh.

Pushpendri married Ompal, a farmer from Khumawali in Gajraula area, on Feb 13 this year. Her father, Balbeer Singh, said the family had given dowry as per its capacity at the time of marriage, but Pushpendri’s in-laws were allegedly unhappy and had been demanding more money.

Circle officer Pankaj Kumar Tyagi said an FIR was registered against Pushpendri’s husband Ompal, father-in-law Rajendra, mother-in-law Indrawati and two others under BNS sections 80 (dowry death) and 85 (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), and sections 3/7 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.

“The body was sent for post-mortem and ligature marks appeared around her neck. The exact cause of death can only be known after the autopsy report. Meanwhile, teams have been formed to nab the accused, who are presently at large,” Tyagi said

Balbeer said Pushpendri called him around 6.30pm on Tuesday in distress. “She was crying helplessly on the phone, begging me to take her home. My daughter kept saying, ‘Papa, they will kill me.’ I tried to console her and told her I would come, but before I could even reach her, I was told she was dead. I could never imagine that our last conversation would end like this,” he said.

Her family alleged that Pushpendri’s in-laws assaulted her, killed her and then hanged the body to make it look like suicide. They claimed she had been subjected to continuous harassment since marriage over the alleged additional dowry demand of around Rs 10 lakh.