Woman, 2 children found dead in Telangana village; dowry harassment angle suspected

HYDERABAD: A suspected case of dowry harassment ended in tragedy in Gollagudem village near Bibinagar, where a 28-year-old woman allegedly smothered her two young children before dying by suicide at her in-laws' house on Monday night.The deceased were identified as Aishwarya, her two-year-old daughter Janaki and 10-month-old son Pandu. Police registered a case following a complaint lodged by the woman's family. No arrests have been made yet. "The exact cause of the children's death is yet to be ascertained. It is suspected that they were smothered," Bhuvanagiri deputy SP B Ravindar said. Aishwarya had married Mahesh Yadav, a railway track maintenance worker from Gollagudem in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, four-and-a-half years ago. According to her family, the marriage ran into trouble about two years ago due to alleged dowry harassment. Around one-and-a-half years ago, she moved to her parents' home in Vemulakonda along with her children. After elders intervened, the couple agreed to resume living together. On Monday evening, Aishwarya's relatives dropped her and the children at her in-laws' house. Yadav left for duty later that night. The next morning, when Aishwarya and the children did not step out of the room, her mother-in-law Satyamma forced open the bedroom door around 7.30 am. "She found Aishwarya hanging to the ceiling fan hook. Both the children were lying dead on the bed. Aishwarya also left a suicide note alleging that she resorted to the extreme step due to dowry harassment from her husband and in-laws," Ravindar said. Rs 30L dowry given: FatherIn his complaint, Aishwarya's father Yadaiah claimed that Rs 30 lakh was given as dowry at the time of marriage and alleged that she was harassed for additional dowry.Based on the complaint, Bibinagar police registered a case under sections 80 (dowry death) and 103(1) (murder) of the BNS against Yadav, his sisters Anita and Kavita, and his parents Satyamma and Narsimha. The bodies were handed over to the family after postmortem.