Rourkela: A couple of days after a woman was allegedly set on fire for being pregnant with a second girl child, police here on Thursday arrested her husband, father-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law.
“The four have been arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged against them. Investigation is underway to ascertain the exact reason behind the alleged murder,” Rourkela DSP Pradyumna Kumar Mishra said.
The deceased, Radha Kumari, had married Vinod Singh about six years ago. The couple already had a six-year-old daughter and Radha was expecting again.
Radha was allegedly set ablaze by her in-laws after a sex determination test revealed that she was pregnant with a girl child. She was admitted to Rourkela IGH in a critical condition and gave birth to the baby. The newborn died while undergoing treatment and Radha later succumbed to the burn injuries.
In his complaint, Radha’s father had alleged that she was killed for dowry.
As per a police complaint lodged by the family members of the deceased, in 2014, she was forced to undergo an abortion after a sex determination test. Years later, she gave birth to a baby girl after which her husband and in-laws started torturing her.
Social activist Pramila Das too alleged that Radha’s in-laws had earlier threatened that they would burn Radha along with her still-to-be-born baby girl.
