Ruma Nandy, 23, hanged herself at her residence at Pathakpara, in the Behala police station area, on Tuesday, because her in-laws and husband wouldn’t allow her to meet her parents unless they coughed up Rs 2 lakh. Ruma was married to Prasanta a year ago.

Ruma’s parents reached the city well after midnight from a village in Bankura to identify the body lying in the morgue of Vidyasagar Hospital.

Ruma’s brother Samiran lodged a complaint with Behala police station on Wednesday, holding three of her in-laws and her husband responsible for her death. Soon afterwards, police launched a hunt for the accused.

But it was too late. When they reached the victim’s house, the main door was locked. All four were absconding. According to police, Ruma, a resident of Bakadah village, in the Bishnupur police station area of Bankura, had not been allowed to meet her parents since the day of her marriage.

“She was not allowed to meet her parents for the past year. Whenever her father Nimai came to visit, husband Prasanta and his family asked him to bring Rs 2 lakh,” said Subhas Sen, officer-in-charge, Behala police station.

“Ruma would plead with her in-laws to permit her to meet her father, but she was disallowed. Prasanta and the others said our father would first have to bring them the cash,” alleged brother Samiran. “We met all the demands Prasanta and his family had made before the marriage, though,” he added.

Ruma was not even allowed to make a telephone call from her residence. “I even paid Rs 1,000 as advance to a telephone booth owner in the locality, requesting him to allow my sister to make a call,” Samiran said. “Ruma made four or five calls to our house. But her in-laws came to know about it and kept her confined.”

After all requests fell on deaf ears, Ruma on Tuesday locked herself in one of the bedrooms and hanged herself from the ceiling around 1 pm.

“We came to know about it around 6 pm, five hours after the incident. We were told that Ruma was sick. Sensing something wrong, we hired a car and rushed to the city around 1.30 am on Wednesday,” Samiran said.

“We did not keep a watch on the family members as there was no complaint against them,” said Behala police station officer-in-charge Sen.

“By the time we received a written complaint, the victim’s husband and his family had fled,” he added. A dowry death case has been registered against Prasanta, his mother Bela, brother Srikanta and sister Kalyani.

“We have launched a hunt to track down the accused. The police station in Garbeta, where the accused family hailed from, will also be informed,” said the officer-in-charge.