The victim’s father breaks down, while his wife holds on to their one-year-old grandchild. Picture by Main Uddin Chisti

Cooch Behar, June 17: A housewife was allegedly throttled to death by her husband, who was later arrested, in a dowry-related incident in the Shyamaprasad Colony here last night.

Soma Basu Majumdar (26) was the only child of her parents and is survived by a one-year-old girl.

The woman’s father, Gautam Dey, is a laboratory technician with the state-run tuberculosis hospital in town.

The inspector-in-charge of the Kotwali police station, Gautam Ghosal, said preliminary investigations revealed that the woman was murdered. “We have observed some marks on the victim’s neck, suggesting that she was throttled to death. Post-mortem may shed light on the cause of the death,” Ghosal said.

Dey, shocked and shattered by his daughter’s death, said he had taken a loan from his provident fund and got his only child married three years ago.

“Ever since the wedding, my daughter was being tortured for more money, despite my paying her husband’s family cash and providing them with jewellery and furniture,” said Dey. He said when they began demanding Rs 1 lakh more, he brought Soma and her daughter to his house. “But the in-laws took them back three days ago and they killed Soma last night.”

“My grand-daughter will be one-year-old next month. Soma was killed because we could not meet her in-laws’ demands and now she has left behind her daughter for us to raise,” Jharna, the deceased’s mother, said.

Police said Soma’s husband, Sukanta Basu Majumdar, who works as an electrician in a private nursing home, has been arrested. His parents, brother and two sisters are missing.

Abdul Jalil Ahmed, a local lawyer, said even though there are anti-dowry laws, society is yet to reject the system. “I, too, am the father of a girl, and I shudder to think of the fate of dowry victims.”