Almost two weeks after radio jockey (RJ) Sandhya Singh was found hanging from the ceiling fan at the Army quarters in Bolarum, Hyderabad Police on Wednesday arrested her husband, an Indian Army major, under charges related to dowry death among others.
“Vaibhav Vishal, who is currently working in 54th Infantry Division in Secunderabad, was arrested today,” Bollarum Police Station S Maheshwar told PTI on Wednesday. The accused Army major has been sent to 14 days of judicial custody.
On April 18, police booked a case against Major Vaibhav Vishal (30) after his wife Sandhya (30) committed suicide at his Army quarters. He was charged under section 304 (b) (dowry death), and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to a Times of India report, Sadhya’s sister Uma Singh, a station master at the Ghaziabad railway station, had lodged a complaint with police.
“According to the complainant, Sandhya ended her life due to dowry harassment by Vaibhav Vishal, his mother Asha Singh and his sister Khushi alias Megha Rai,” DCP, North Zone, B Sumathi was quoted by Times of India as saying.
The police, however, could not record his statement as he remained in the Army area.
Earlier, based on the information provided by her husband, a case of suicide had been registered.
According to police, it was a love marriage and the deceased belonged to Scheduled Castes (SC) community from Uttar Pradesh.
Prior to the wedding, Sandhya would work as a journalist with Amar Ujala newspaper in Ghaziabad and she also used to RJ at a local FM channel.
After the wedding, Vaibhav and Sandhya went to stay with his family at Gorakhpur.
After a few days, her in-laws started harassing her for dowry and kept on pestering her to get her parents’ house in Ghaziabad as dowry. Unable to put up with the harassment, Sandhya returned to Ghaziabad.
The couple was counselled by military officials and Vaibhav was transferred from Siachen to Hyderabad in November 2016.
Uma's family thought that everything would be fine after the couple shifted to Hyderabad.
However, things got worse when Vaibhav also started harassing her for dowry, along with his parents.
With no hope left, Sandhya committed suicide on April 18. According to police, the death was due to hanging.
ACP S Ranga Rao said that while no suicide note was found, there was evidence that Sandhya was being harassed for additional dowry by her husband and in-laws.
Police have launched a manhunt to nab Vaibhav's mother, Dr Asha Singh, 62, a gynaecologist, and his sister Khushi, 29, an employee of HDFC Insurance.
