Now, a dowry death in Delhi: Woman dies minutes after telling brother, ‘I am being tortured’

Still, it was city life — the kind Veena, who had studied till Class XII, had longed for.

But cracks began to appear in the life she was building. Raju and Rajkumar started passing snide remarks about the ‘quality’ of the ‘gifts’ she got with her, said a police officer.

“We had given some ‘gifts’… some cash, a bike… but they wanted a Royal Enfield Bullet as dowry. At the time of Veena’s marriage, we couldn’t afford it,” said her brother, Raj, who lives in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.

By 2025, he said, things took a turn. He alleged Veena’s husband and brother-in-law constantly shouted at her and even beat her for dowry.

“At one point they asked us to take her home. But we asked our village elders to intervene and threatened to go to the police. After this, Raju’s parents apologised and said it won’t happen again,” claimed Raj.

Raj, who has two more sisters, said things settled for a short while. But he claimed that after April 25, when Rajkumar got married — and got a 40-inch LED TV and a Bullet bike from his wife’s family — things worsened again.

“Veena had called our elder sister, saying they torture her every day with comments about how Rajkumar’s wife has got all this and she didn’t get anything,” claimed Raj.

On Monday night, Veena called Raj. “She said she was being tortured. I immediately rushed to Inderpuri when her husband called and said that she had ‘fallen’ from the roof,” he alleged.

Veena’s death comes on the heels of two similar deaths — of Twisha Sharma in Bhopal and Deepika Nagar in Greater Noida — in the span of a week. In Twisha and Deepika’s cases as well, the parents have accused the in-laws of dowry harassment.

On Wednesday, police said Veena’s case was suspected to be a dowry death. “Around 11 pm, police got a call from the hospital about the death of the woman,” said DCP (West) Darade Sharad Bhaskar.

“Based on our initial inquiry, statements of family members, and findings of the post-mortem examination conducted on Tuesday, an FIR has been registered at Inderpuri police station under sections of the BNS against the deceased woman’s husband and his two brothers on the charge of dowry death,” said the DCP.

Since less than seven years had passed since the marriage, legal proceedings under provisions related to dowry death were initiated and the matter was reported to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Karol Bagh, he said.

The SDM recorded the statements of the woman’s family members, while the crime and forensics teams from Rohini inspected the spot and collected evidence scientifically, Bhaskar added.

An officer said the couple’s neighbours denied having heard any fight or argument between them. “The rooftop of the building, from where the woman allegedly fell, also has a room. The occupants of the room denied seeing the husband or the brother on the roof at the time of the incident,” another officer said, adding that claims that Veena was physically tortured are still being probed.