A 31-year-old software techie was convicted for seven years on Friday for the dowry harassment-related death of his wife in 2015.

The accused in the case, Simhadri Bala Kishore, was married to Eesha Phani in April 2015. Police say that at the time of their marriage, his family had demanded Rs 50 lakh and other household articles as dowry. The couple after marriage then moved to Shivaji Nagar under Chandanagar police limits. 

However, after a few days, Eesha informed her parents that Bala was physically and mentally harassing her. He demanded that she offer an additional dowry of Rs 40 to 50 lakh for the couple to settle in the USA. The police say the family requested Bala not to further harass Eesha and assured an additional Rs 25 lakh.

The harassment, however, did not stop and in June, two months after their wedding Eesha took her own life.

The Additional Division bench judge of the Kukatpally court, P Laxmi Sharadha, convicted the accused to seven years imprisonment. He was booked under various sections of the dowry prevention act. 

Speaking to TNM, B Ravinder, Inspector at Chandanagar police station said, "There was concrete evidence that dowry was received and there were enough witnesses, so we were able to get a conviction.”

There have been two other cases of dowry harassment-related deaths under the Chandanagar police station in 2017 and in 2018. 

In one dowry-related death case in 2017, a 33-year-old woman software techie killed herself at her residence. Her husband and the building watchman had to break open the apartment door locked from the inside. The police had booked a case against the husband and her mother-in-law who were allegedly harassing her.

In another case in 2018 under the same police limits, a 30-year-old killed herself after sending a selfie of her with the rope to her husband. The police in this case too had registered a dowry harassment case against her husband.

The Chandanagar police, however, have no clarity on the status of the investigations of these past cases.