Wedding party, call to mother, pick up by husband and then ‘fall’ from building – Delhi newlywed’s final hours
NEW DELHI: A 28-year-old newlywed woman who celebrated her marriage with colleagues at her workplace on Saturday evening died just hours later after allegedly falling from an NDMC residential building in south Delhi’s Lodhi Colony area.Police have since registered a dowry death case and arrested her husband, while her family has accused him and his relatives of dowry harassment and murder.Cops say no evidence of foul play has surfaced so far and preliminary the case appears to be of suicide.Akriti, who married on April 24 this year and worked as a sales executive at a healthcare company in Chhatarpur, had hosted a small celebration for her colleagues before leaving the office with her husband, who had come to pick her up.“She hosted a small party at work to celebrate her wedding. After the party, her husband came to pick her up from the office. She called her mother around 7 pm to say she was heading home,” her uncle, Mananjay Sutar, said.Around 8 pm on Saturday, Lodhi Colony police received information that a woman had been critically injured after an alleged fall from the third floor of the NDMC residential complex at Palika Kunj. She was rushed to AIIMS, where doctors declared her dead.Police said Akriti lived with her husband, who is currently unemployed, and her father-in-law, an inspection official with the Delhi government’s labour department, in Pushp Vihar.As the death occurred within seven years of marriage, mandatory inquest proceedings were initiated and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) was informed, police said. Based on the family’s complaint, police have now registered a case of dowry death and arrested Akriti’s husband. Investigators said they are continuing to examine the sequence of events, record witness statements and verify the allegations against the husband and his family.Rejecting the possibility of suicide, Akriti’s family alleged that she had been subjected to repeated physical assault and harassment over dowry after her marriage.Her brother, Amay Sutar, claimed that although the groom had initially refused dowry, the family gifted Akriti gold at the wedding. “Within days of the marriage, her husband started assaulting her and demanding cash and a car,” he alleged.The family further claimed that Akriti often called her mother, saying she was being beaten and tortured. Her uncle also alleged that the couple, who had known each other since school and had a love-cum-arranged marriage, frequently argued, including over dowry demands and the husband’s unemployment.The family questioned the circumstances surrounding her death, saying Akriti did not live in the NDMC residential building where she was found. They also claimed they saw only her phone, slippers and handbag on the third floor and found no visible bloodstains or external injuries, raising suspicions of foul play.
