Ludhiana dowry death: Mother-in-law among two held amid protests by victim’s kin

The vicitm’s husband, who is also one of the key accused in the Ludhiana dowry death case, still at large; kin of 22-year-old victim allege laxity in police action

A day after the death of a married 22-year-old woman, police on Monday arrested her mother-in-law and another family member for dowry death.

Police arrested her mother-in-law and another family member for dowry death a day after the 22-year-old victim died under suspicious circumstances. (HT File)

The same comes as the victim’s kin staged a protest outside the Model Town police station, seeking action against the accused. Notably, two other accused in the case, including the victim’s husband, Amit Birla, are still at large.

Police, however, pacified the protesting relatives of the victim, Muskaan, and assured them that they would arrest all accused in the case — following which the family members lifted their protest.

The victim’s family members said they had lodged a first information report (FIR) against four accused — including her husband Amit, a resident of Dr Ambedkar Nagar, mother-in-law Urmila and two other relatives Munish and Deepak, residents of Ambala and Dashmesh Nagar respectively.

Police have since arrested Urmila and Deepak, who is the husband of the victim’s sister-in-law, amid allegations of delay in police action from the victim’s family members.

Giving details about the developments in the case, sub-inspector Gurshinder Kaur, station house officer (SHO) at the Model Town police, said police teams arrested two of the accused within hours of the FIR being registered. She added that a hunt is on for the arrest of the remaining accused.

The victim, Muskan, died on Sunday. Her mother, Sangeeta, levelled allegations of the in-laws thrashing her to death and later hanging her body from the ceiling fan to pass it off as a suicide.

Model Town police had at the time registered a case under section 304-B (dowry death) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused.

The victim’s mother had alleged that the accused began harassing her daughter for dowry soon after the marriage, adding that they would often force her to seek money from her parents to help set-up a business for her husband.

Muskan and her husband Amit Birla also have a ten-month old son.