Man blames kin for wife’s death

Husband says his brother, sister-in-law would torture the woman

Two days after 41-yearold Sharmila Sharma was found hanging in her home in Mahendra Hills, East Marredpally, her paralysed husband told the police that his brother and sister-inlaw had caused her death. Vishwas Sharma, a former business administrator, said that he was held hostage for a day by his brother and sister-inlaw after his wife’s death and forced to lie to the police that his wife was mentally ill.

On the third day, he contacted the police and said he wanted to change his statement because the real reason behind his wife’s death was torture by his elder brother Abhilash Sharma and his wife Vandana.

Sharmila, a post graduate in Economics, was found hanging in her room on Saturday.

As evidence, Vishwas Sharma produced notes written by his wife months ago describing the harassment. He also produced a letter to the TV show CID written by his 14- year-old daughter Suryanshi, when she was seven years old. In it she appealed to the 'CID uncle' to help her by stopping the torture her parents faced.

Vishwas Sharma alleged that his wife had been harassed for several years and he could not do anything because he was paralysed. He alleged that his elder brother’s intention was to grab their properties. Sharma also alleged that his own father, who is no more now, had molested Sharmila when he was alive.

Investigating officers say that Vishwas keeps changing his statement. “First he complained that his wife was mentally ill. Later, he said she committed suicide because of his elder brother’s harassment. There are also contradictions in his statements. But we are inquiring into all possible angles,” said Inspector G. Ramesh.

Sharmila’s relatives said that Vishwas Sharma, an MBA from a London University, married Sharmila in 2002. Sharma worked in a private company in Hyderabad.