Noida: Man arrested for electrocution of his wife over dowry demand

The deceased woman had married Shoaib, who runs a fruit cart for a living, two years ago and she is now survived by their one-year-old daughter

The Greater Noida police on Sunday arrested a man for allegedly killing his 22-year-old wife by electrocution over dowry in Dadri, Greater Noida, on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, said officers.

The deceased woman, Samreen, (single name), married Shoaib, 25, who runs a fruit cart, two years ago. Samreen is survived by a one-year-old daughter. On Saturday, Samreen’s father, Shahid, 47, a daily wage labourer, and a resident of the Usman colony in Dasna, Ghaziabad, alleged that his daughter was killed since he could not fulfil her husband’s demand of ₹2 lakh as an additional dowry. Shoaib was apprehended for questioning on Saturday and was arrested on Sunday, said police.

“On Saturday around 7am, police were alerted by a person on the emergency helpline number 112 that a woman in their neighbourhood died under mysterious circumstances,” said Ramesh Chandra Pandey, assistant commissioner of police, Greater Noida. A team of the Dadri police rushed to the spot and secured the body for an autopsy.

Police said that the woman died of electrocution. “Around 8am on Saturday, Shahid informed police that Samreen, who lived with her husband in Bhawan Bahadur Nagar, has died due to electrocution,” said additional deputy commissioner of police (Greater Noida), Ashok Kumar.

However, Shoaib told police that late Saturday night, when Samreen was sleeping, her hands touched the table fan and she suffered an electric shock due to a technical fault in the fan, said Ashok Kumar, additional deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida.

Following Shahid’s complaint, a first information report was registered at Dadri police station against Shoaib, Nazakat (Shoaib’s father), both residents of BB Nagar in Bulandshahr, Saqir (Shoaib’s uncle) and Rubina (Shoaib’s aunt), residents of Dadri.

They have been booked on charges of 304B (dowry death), 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Dowry Prohibition Act, said station house officer (Dadri police station) Sujeet Upadhyay.