Sharjah: A man of Indian origin has lost his job in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after being accused of physically and mentally torturing his wife. The woman from Kerala, named Athulya Sekhar, was found dead in her flat in Sharjah on Saturday.
Before her death, Athulya had shared some videos with her family, purportedly showing her husband Satheesh Sivasankara Pillai torturing her physically. The Dubai-based construction company decided to sack Satheesh on Monday after going through the videos.
According to Gulf News, a senior HR manager of the company said the firm issued a letter of termination to Satheesh, a site engineer, following the death of his wife.
“We took the action based on the media reports about a case registered against him in Kerala and circumstantial evidence of his violent and abusive behaviour in videos that appeared online,” the manager told the media outlet.
The termination letter states: “This is to inform you that your services are hereby terminated with immediate effect for your apparent involvement in your wife’s death who took her own life on 19th July, 2025 in Sharjah owing to your violent physical and mental harassment to her which is a criminal offense in UAE, and based on the circumstantial evidences and the clippings of your violent treatment to her as shown by the print and visual media and as reported by the relatives of your wife.”
“We were shocked to see the videos that she had shared with her family, in which he is physically abusing and mentally harassing her,” the company has said.
Based on her family’s complaint, the Kerala Police have registered a murder case against Satheesh. Athulya was the mother of a 10-year-old child and she died on her 30th birthday on the first day of a new job. Athulya’s family claims that she could not have taken her own life. According to the complaint lodged by her mother, Satheesh strangled her, kicked her stomach, and hit her head with a plate between July 18 and 19, leading to her death.
Athulya’s family claimed that Satheesh tortured her for more dowry though he had received a motorcycle and 43 sovereigns of gold during their marriage in 2014.
Satheesh has denied the allegations though. He told the Indian media from the UAE that he had no role to play in Athulya’s death. He said he never believed that she would take her own life and is looking for answers himself.
The woman’s father, however, called him an alcoholic and violent person. The family also released videos showing Athulya with visible injury marks and Satheesh appearing to lift a plastic stool to hit her.
Athulya’s sister and brother-in-law, who live in Sharjah, were the ones who discovered the body on Saturday, “We will be visiting the Sharjah Police for completing the formalities of filing the case tomorrow. We are also approaching the Indian Consulate in Dubai,” her brother-in-law said.
