Youth, mom held for harassing 'secret' bride

In a love-turned-bitter saga, Hudkeshwar police recently arrested a 50-year-old Nagpur university clerk and her college-going son, in
his early twenties, after a young woman complained of being cheated by them in the name of marriage. The victim, 21-year-old Priya Verma, also alleged that she was harassed for a dowry of Rs 2 lakh even though her marriage was never acknowledged before the society.

Police said that Priya and accused Amol Verma, a commerce student, had allegedly entered into a relationship while studying at a tuition class at Ayodhya Nagar. The young couple decided to tie the knot at a marriage venue at Sitabuldi on May 7 in presence of a few friends from either side. However, both kept the union under wraps. Police said that Priya had also become pregnant after the marriage.

Getting wind of the development, Amol's mother Shobha arranged a meeting of the two families at her Akash Nagar residence to formally announce the marriage. The families met once again after a month to settle the issue.

Police said that the meeting soured the relations between the two families as Amol's mother allegedly demanded dowry. Priya, feeling betrayed, aggressively took on Amol's family in the meeting. The tussle took a turn for the worse when Priya lodged a police complaint against Amol and his mother on August 6. Police said Priya claimed that she was initially lured with the promise of a social acknowledgement of her secret marriage to Amol but his family started pressuring her parents for coughing up the dowry amount. Police said Amol was initially inclined to side with Priya but later turned against her for being aggressive towards his mother.

Police probed the matter with due patience. We made sure no injustice was done to either family,” said assistant police inspector Vijay Akot attached to Hudkeshwar police station.

Amol was arrested on August 31 while his mother Shobha was arrested on Tuesday. Amol had secured pre-arrest but this was later cancelled after police challenged it. Shobha had also got ad-interim bail. The mother-son duo have been slapped with criminal breach of trust, forgery and harassment for dowry.