Kerala dowry death: Vismaya died by suicide due to harassment, police files charge sheet

In the case that had shocked the conscience of the state, Kerala police on Friday submitted the charge sheet filed in the Vismaya SV dowry harassment and suicide case.

The 500-page charge sheet says Vismaya's husband Kiran Kumar had driven her to suicide due to continued physical and mental torture over dowry and there were 102 witnesses and 56 pieces of evidence including digital ones.

"Initially section 174 of CrPC (suicide) was charged in the case. Later during the course of the investigation, we added section 304 B of the IPC (Dowry death) among others," Kollam Rural SP KB Ravi, who arrived at the local court to submit the charge sheet.

According to him, there are several circumstantial pieces of evidence crucial to prove the guilt of her husband.

The audio messages she had sent with regard to the torture she had faced at her husband's house is a major digital evidence in the charge sheet.

The 22-year-old Ayurveda medical student was found dead in her husband's house under mysterious circumstances at Sasthamkotta in Kollam district on June 21.

Kumar, who was an assistant motor vehicle inspector, was arrested and the state government later dismissed him from service.

A day before the incident, Vismaya had sent WhatsApp messages to her relatives over the alleged harassment by Kumar over dowry, as well as photos of wounds and marks of beatings on her body.

Her father told a TV channel that 100 sovereigns of gold (one sovereign is equal to 8 grams gold) and over one-acre land, besides a Rs 10 lakh worth car was given as dowry to Kumar during the wedding in 2020.

But Kumar did not like the car and wanted Rs 10 lakh in cash. As he was told it was not possible, he used to torture her, the father had said.