TN Police file case after woman complains of suspicious death of husband

Chennai, Sep 23 (IANS) Police have registered a case of unnatural death after a Dalit woman, S. Amlu (29) filed a complaint at the Arani police station here that her husband A. Gowthaman (29) has died in suspicious circumstances.

In the complaint filed on Wednesday, she said that her husband had gone to his native village, Karani in Tiruvallur district, and later she came to know that his body was cremated by his family without even informing her

Amlu and Gowthaman married on September 4, 2019, after having met on a train and fallen in love. Amlu is a nurse working in a private hospital. Gowthaman was from the Vanniyar community while Amlu is a Dalit. The couple has a baby girl, born on August 18, 2021.

On September 17 Gowthaman received a call from his sister who informed him to immediately reach ancestral home as a close relative had died. Gowthaman left for the village the same day and since then there was no whereabouts from him till Monday. As his mobile phone was switched off, Amlu sent her brother Praveen to his native village, the complaint said.

Praveen while speaking to IANS said, "When I reached Karani Village, I saw posters paying obituary to my brother-in-law and I was shocked. The posters said that he had died on 17th September itself and that his body was cremated the same day."

He said that he returned to Chennai and then Amlu filed a case with Arani police station. Police have booked a case under CrPc 174 (suspicious death) and IPC 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence committed).

After the police registered the case, the immediate family members of Gowthaman, including his father Annamalai, mother Akila, sisters Gomathi and Manimegalai and brother Srinivasan went missing.

Velmurugan (43), a plumber at Karani said that he did not know what happened to Gowthaman, but he passed away on September 17 and that his body was cremated on the same day.

Police on investigation said that Gowthaman used to visit his family every week but the family used to pester him to divorce Amlu and to marry a woman from the Vanniyar community. He stopped going to his family after the compulsions became more severe, police said.