NRI engineer arrested for seeking dowry

COIMBATORE: A 38-year-old NRI engineer was arrested on Thursday for demanding Rs 5 lakh as dowry from his wife and in-laws and inflicting mental trauma by threatening to divorce his wife if her family failed to give him the money. His mother who is also guilty of demanding dowry is absconding and a team has been sent to Namakkal to nab her. The couple has a five-year-old son.The accused was planning to fly back to Kuwait on December 19.
Police said N Sivadass of Tiruchengode in Namakkal district, working as a design engineer in a private firm in Kuwait, married S Sathyapriya (30), hailing from Veeriyampalayam, in 2004. The couple had been living in Kuwait for one year and Sathyapriya had come to Coimbatore for the delivery. She claimed that her mother-in-law N Kanniga, 55, started harassing her, demanding Rs 5 lakh as dowry.
Later on, when Sivadass also came down to India, he supported his mother in her request. Sathyapriya's parents gave him eight sovereigns of gold jewels but he remained adamant and reportedly continued to ill-treat his wife. Meanwhile, Kannagi threatened that she would start finding a new bride for her son, if her family could not pay up.
Unable to bear the torture, Sathyapriya finally lodged a complaint on Thursday against her husband and mother-in-law with all women police station in Ramanathapuram in the city.
Police said that the victim's parents had already given 40 sovereigns of gold jewels and Rs 50,000 as dowry. and they had spent Rs 2 lakh for conducting the marriage.