HYDERABAD: The Panjagutta police registered a case of domestic violence and dowry harassment against G. Eknath Reddy, grandson of the owner of the popular sweet shop G. Pulla Reddy Sweets, G. Raghava Reddy.
The complainant, K. Pragnya Reddy, 34, had on Friday lodged a complaint with the police alleging that her husband Eknath Reddy and in-laws had been forcing her to buy a commercial property as additional dowry. She said her husband had filed a divorce petition in 2021 before the family court in Hyderabad.
Pragnya Reddy, in her complaint, said she had also filed interim petitions for maintenance and injunction to restrain her husband and in-laws not to dispossess her from her house at Begumpet. The petitions were pending adjudication.
“My counter statement with the claim for restitution of conjugal rights has also been filed. In the meantime, my in-laws Raghava Reddy and his wife Bharathi Reddy filed a petition with the RDO, Begumpet, under Senior Citizens Act for protection and for evicting me and six-year-old daughter with mala fide and dishonest intention,” Pragnya Reddy stated in her complaint.
She also stated that her husband and in-laws had attempted to smother her with a pillow on May 10 and somehow she managed to escape. On the same day, she tried to lodge a police complaint but they threatened to kill her minor daughter and parents, if she dared to lodge a complaint.
She stated on May 12 she was shocked to see a wall was being constructed in the early hours to block her from entering the main steps that led to her house. Her in-laws locked the house from outside and fled the scene, she said. The same day she called the police and her parents.
Pragnya Reddy married Eknath Reddy, the second son of Raghava Reddy, on March 19, 2014, in Bengaluru. At the time of marriage, she and her parents had given Rs 75 lakh cash, diamond, gold and silver jewellery worth Rs. 4.45 lakh.
Later on, Pragya Reddy said, she came to know that her husband was suffering from a chronic disease.
A case under crime number 226/ 2022 under Section 498 (A) (dowry harassment, domestic violence) and 341 (wrongfully restraining any person) were registered against the accused.
“We registered a case against Eknath Reddy, grandson of G. Raghava Reddy, and his wife Bharati Reddy on a complaint lodged by Pragnya Reddy,” Panjagutta inspector Niranjan Reddy told Deccan Chronicle. The case was under investigation and so far no arrest had been made, Niranjen Redddy said.
