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Teen girl 'accidentally' smothered by her brother-in-law

Last Updated 27 February 2017, 20:33 IST

A man’s bid to make his wife’s 18-year-old sister unconscious and take her to Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, against her will went awry as he ended up smothering her, police said.

Pavithra had dropped out of college and was living with her elder sister and her husband, Jagadeesh. The family is from Chittoor.

Pavithra had an affair with a man named Yeshwanth from the same locality sometime ago. But her mother Lakshmi and relatives asked her to stay away from him. Jagadeesh even filed a complaint under the Pocso Act against Yeshwanth as Pavithra was a minor back then. As soon as she turned 18, she was married off to one of Jagadeesh’s relatives against her will. The marriage went through a rough patch soon after and Pavithra deserted her husband only to return home.

In November 2016, Yeshwanth came out on bail and started dating Pavithra again. When Jagadeesh learnt about it, he  tried to send her back to live with her husband in Chittoor. He persuaded her mother, Lakshmi, to use black magic on her to achieve the goal. He suggested that the only way to take Pavithra to Chittoor would be to make her unconscious. Lakshmi agreed and asked him to do the trick.

On Saturday night, Pavithra screamed as Jagadeesh tried to make her unconscious. But he didn’t give up and ended up smothering her. He then told Lakshmi that the “job” was done and asked a neighbour to take them to a temple in Chittoor in his car. As the family set out on the journey, Lakshmi tried to wake Pavithra up. Jagadeesh talked her out of it, saying Pavithra was in deep slumber and will not wake up in a while.

When Pavithra didn’t wake up even after the family reached Chittoor in the early hours of Sunday, Lakshmi got worried and asked Jagadeesh what went wrong. Jagadeesh feigned ignorance and said he would take Pavithra to a hospital in Vellore. On the way, he explained everything to Lakshmi and warned her against calling the police, saying her elder daughter’s life would be destroyed if he was sent to jail.

The family reached Bengaluru on Sunday for Pavithra’s funeral. When relatives asked her about Pavithra’s death, Lakshmi revealed the truth. The relatives called the police who then arrested Jagadeesh.

A senior police officer, who is part of the investigation, said Jagadeesh was planning to kill Pavithra once she reached Chittoor. “But he ended up killing her at the house. Lakshmi owns the house as well as an acre of land in Chittoor. Jagadeesh was pestering her to transfer the property to him but Pavithra was firmly against it. He decided to eliminate her and grab the property,” the officer said.

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(Published 27 February 2017, 20:33 IST)

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