Thiruvananthapuram: Pooyappally police on Saturday arrested a man and his mother for allegedly starving his wife to death for not giving dowry.
The arrested were Oyoor Chenkulam native Chandulal (30) and his mother Geethalal (55). A Kottarakkara court remanded them.
Thushara, the daughter of Karunagappally natives Thulaseedharan and Vijayalakshmi, died on March 21.
Chandulal has been charged with offences including dowry harassment, mental and physical torture, and leaving a person to starve, resulting in death.
His mother is believed to be engaged in black magic. She built a temple-like structure in front of the house and covered the whole house compound with tin sheets.
Locals said they used to hear loud cries from the house often. The police is planning to seek their custody for further questioning.
Thushara's body was in a disorganised state due to lack of food intake. It was marks of assaults on her body that created suspicion. The police carried out the arrest based on the postmortem report. Though Mr Chandulal was taken into custody earlier by doubts raised by doctors, he was let off after questioning.
As per his statement, his wife was given only sugared water and rice soaked in water.
The couple has two children Chancy (4) and Chinsy (18 months).
Though Chandulal and his mother took Thushara to Kollam District Hospital on March 21 around midnight, she was declared brought dead.
As the hospital authorities found something fishy, they referred the case to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital. It was during the post-mortem examination there the doctors found that the woman had died of pneumonia after starving for days together.
Chandulal married Thushara in 2013. Nearly three months after the marriage, he demanded Rs 2 lakh as dowry.
However, as her family could not find the money, she had been constantly subjected to mental and physical torture. She was allowed to contact his relatives only two times.
If her relatives went to meet her, she was beaten up after they were forced to return.
