Visakhapatnam: A young bride collapsed and died during the marriage ritual, moments before the groom was to tie the nuptial knot. She is suspected to have consumed some poisonous substance.
In another incident, a groom died by suicide a few hours before his marriage in the city.
The first incident was reported from Madhurawada under PM Palem police limits here on Wednesday evening. The girl, Srujana, was rushed to a local hospital by her family members but the doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.
Tempers ran high with families of the bride and groom abusing each other for the sad turn. They lodged separate police complaints against each other.
The police said Srujana was being married to Nagothi Sivaji. The bride collapsed just as the groom finished applying the traditional paste of jiggery and comin paste on her head.
The family elders thought she might have collapsed due to fatigue owing to the prolonged wedding rituals and hectic pre-wedding photo shoots over the past three days. But doctors stated that she had consumed some poison. The police found a packet of highly poisionous datura seeds.
A case of suspicious death was registered, the PM Palem police said.
In another incident, a 27-year-old youth committed suicide a few hours before his marriage here on Wednesday morning. The body of Pati Dinesh was found at his house in Malkapuram.
The police said Dinesh worked as a contract supervisor in HPCL and recently resigned due to personal reasons. His parents Venkateswara Rao and Venkata Lakshmi had arranged his marriage.
Dinesh told his friends that he could maintain the family with little means of income. He left the house three days ago, leaving a letter in which he said that he would end his life. Family members searched him out and made him agree to the marriage. The muhurat was in the evening. He ended his life in the morning.
