Mumbai

Architect, parents arrested for dowry harassment

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DowryComplainant claims her family was forced to give dowry worth Rs 20 lakh and says her husband refused to consummate the marriage without an additional Rs 10 lakh.

A Jones Lang LaSalle architect and his parents were arrested in Nagpada last week, after his wife filed a case of dowry harassment against him nearly two weeks ago. The accused, Obaid Ansari (38), and his family had been absconding since the day the case was filed but were finally tracked down in Nagpada. All of them were sent to judicial custody. DCP Vinayak Deshmukh confirmed the report and said, “A case has been registered and investigation is on.”

Ansari and the complainant, Tabassum (36), were married on November 13, 2012. According to her complaint, the very next day, Ansari put forth a demand for Rs 10 lakh and a four-wheeler. “It was a marriage arranged within the family. I was promised that we would live in a separate house and there would be no dowry involved. But a week before the wedding, his parents came to my house and told my parents that he had bought a flat in south Mumbai and they needed household items such as a refrigerator, washing machine, double bed, AC and so on. They also demanded gold ornaments and clothes for the entire family, saying it was a family custom,” said Tabassum.

She added, “All these demands were fulfilled by my family and we spent nearly Rs 20 lakh. After the wedding, he took away my jewellery worth Rs 13 lakh on the pretext of keeping it in a safe place. On the first night after the wedding, he asked me to give him Rs 10 lakh.”

Despite all this, Tabassum tried to work things out and the couple left for honeymoon in Mauritius the next month, a trip sponsored by her parents. There as well, Ansari kept on pressurising her to get more money and refused to get intimate. After they returned, Tabassum was thrown out of the marital house.

“I suspect that my husband has a medical problem. My in-laws threatened to burn me alive. My father-in-law misbehaved with me and pushed me out of the house. Nearly 20 days ago, I registered a case of molestation and dowry harassment against him and his family,” she said.

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