Athulya Sekhar, a 29-year-old woman from Thevalakkara, Kollam, was found dead in her apartment in Sharjah’s Rolla area on Saturday, July 19, her 30th birthday. Her family alleges she was murdered by her husband, Satheesh Shankar, following years of physical and mental abuse over dowry demands. The couple, married in 2014 when Athulya was 14, had been living in the UAE for over a year with their 10-year-old daughter, Aaradhika, who currently resides with Athulya’s parents in Kerala.

Athulya’s mother, Thulasibhai, filed a complaint with Chavara Thekkumbhagam police, alleging Satheesh strangled Athulya, kicked her stomach, and struck her head with a plate between July 18 and 19, leading to her death. The family claims Satheesh, a site engineer in Dubai, harassed Athulya since their marriage, demanding more dowry despite receiving 43 sovereigns of gold and a motorcycle. Videos shared by Athulya’s sister, also in Sharjah, show visible bruises and Satheesh assaulting her with a chair, mocking her pleas. A voice note revealed Athulya’s despair: “I’m sick, unable to move; I was kicked in the stomach. I can’t bear it anymore.”

The Kerala police have registered a case against Satheesh under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for murder, cruelty, and grievous hurt, alongside the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. An eight-member Special Investigation Team, led by Karunagappally SP, is probing the case, with steps to repatriate Satheesh from the UAE, possibly via a lookout notice. Sharjah police are conducting a parallel investigation, with Athulya’s body undergoing forensic examination.

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Satheesh, sacked from his Dubai job after the allegations, denies involvement, claiming he found Athulya hanging and noticed suspicious items like a knife and a mask in the room. He admitted to past assaults and alcoholism but insists her death was not suicide, citing her love for their daughter. The case, the second such incident in Sharjah this month, has reignited concerns over dowry-related violence among Indian expatriates.

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