Wife, 5-month-old 'beaten to death for dowry'

Hazaribag: In a brutal case of dowry harassment, Rupa Devi (25) and her five-month old son Ujjwal Kumar were reportedly beaten to death with a hot iron rod allegedly by her husband Praveen Kumar Mahto (28) late on Tuesday. Married for almost two years, the woman was allegedly being tortured for not meeting the dowry demands.
DSP (rural) H L Ravi said, "An FIR in this connection was lodged with the Keredari police station after the two bodies were seized and sent to the Hazaribag sadar hospital for autopsy." According to the FIR lodged by Rupa's father Chatru Mahto, his daughter was married off to Praveen Kumar Mahto, the son of Khiru Mahto of Omay village two years ago.He said he had given her enough dowry comprising jewellery and cash, as per the wishes of the groom's family. But within six months of the marriage, his son-in-law and other family members, including Khiru Mahto, mother-in-law Rukmani Devi and Praveen's brother Surendra Kumar Mahto started torturing his daughter for a bike as dowry, he alleged.
He has accused his son-in-law and his family members of beating and torturing his daughter regularly. The FIR further reads that Praveen Kumar informed his father-in-law that his daughter and grandson had died due to snake bite on Wednesday morning. On hearing this, he immediately rushed to Omay village to find that the two bodies were lying on a cot. To avoid police investigation, the father alleged, the family members told police that they were away working on the fields when the incident took place.
Mahto claimed that he found burn marks of hot iron rod as also of strangulation on his daughter's body and challenged the claims of his son-in-law and others, who said she and his grandson died due to snake bite. Police immediately rushed to the spot, seized the bodies and sent them to Hazaribag. The DSP said, "Prima facie there are enough reasons to suspect the claims of the family members. It appears that the accused are trying to hide the truth. Investigation has been started. The deaths seem to have been caused due to severe torture and not a snake bite."
Police have registered a case under section 302/34 against all the accused persons, the DSP said, adding that all those who were named in the FIR have been arrested and investigation into the case is on in full swing.