Owners of Dairy Rich ice cream company arrested after daughter-in-law commits suicide

BENGALURU: The Govindarajnagar police have arrested five members of a family, including the owners of Seetha Ice Cream Company, which makes the Dairy Rich brand, after the daughter-in-law committed suicide in the city over alleged dowry harassment.

The police found a death note of the victim from her parental house. The Govindarajnagar police arrested five accused, including the ice cream company owner, from a resort in Goa based on the complaint given by the deceased’s mother. The 24th ACCM court remanded them to 14 days in police custody. The arrested the accused Giriyappa, his wife Seeta, their sons Vijay and Rajesh, and the latter’s wife Tasmi.

The deceased Aishwarya, a housewife, was married to Rajesh five years ago. She ended her life on November 26, but came to light only after the arrest of the accused.

Aishwarya hailed from well-off family which resides in Chandra Layout. She did her MS in the US and had excelled in her studies. Her father Subramani wanted to get his daughter married into a well-settled family she was married off to Rajesh through a relative Ravindra, who worked as an auditor in the ice cream company.

Giriyappa, his wife Seetha and their son and daughter-in-law.

Ravindra is Aishwarya’s father Subramani’s brother-in-law (sister’s husband). Aishwarya had an arranged marriage with Rajesh and everything seemed well in the initial days.

Later on, the families of Ravindra and Subramani got into a dispute over property. Taking advantage of the family dispute, Ravindra allegedly started to share some rumours about Aishwarya to her husband Rajesh. Ravindra allegedly concocted stories about her and sent her photos to Rajesh. As a result, Rajesh’s family started harassing her every day.

Aishwarya was allegedly being harassed by the entire family including her father-in-law Giriyappa, mother-in-law Seetha, her husband Rajesh, brother-in-law Vijay and his wife Tasmi for dowry.

Aishwarya endured the torture for long and even gave her husband a superbike and a gold necklace with her hard-earned money. But Rajesh continued to abuse her.  About 20 days ago, she left her husband’s house moved to her parental home where she took the extreme step. A complaint was also filed against Ravindra, Geetha, Shalini, Omprakash for allegedly instigating the breakup.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Girish S, all the accused were absconding after Aishwarya’s suicide and had gone to Goa where they enjoyed in a casino after switching off all their mobile phones. The police traced them after checking the CDR for about three days and getting a clue.

The family stayed at two resorts in Goa for three days. Two police teams went to Goa and found that all the five accused were staying at the same resort from where they arrested them. The police are also on the lookout for the other five accused, who are missing. One of the accused, Shalini Omprakash, is said to be in the US and the police plan to issue a red corner notice against her after getting permission from the DG&IGP.