Kendrapara, July 13: A gram rakhi (village cop) was taken into custody on charges of allegedly killing his wife for dowry.

Jagabandhu Singh, 28, was arrested from his native Balia-pailo village, about 20 km from here. The in-laws of the victim, named co-accused in the FIR, have evaded arrest.

Police said Ranjita Sahu, 26, was allegedly murdered by her cop husband and his parents for failing to bring home Rs 50,000 as dowry.

“The victim died under mysterious circumstances on July 10. Her body was retrieved from in-law’s house. The other members staying at her in-laws house told us that Ranjita, who used to undergo bouts of psychiatric disorder, had consumed poison to end her life,” said Ranjan Kumar Dey, inspector, Kendrapara rural police station.

“As we smelt foul play, we investigated the incident and the body was sent for postmortem. Our suspicion gained ground when the deceased’s father, Keshab Chandra Jena, lodged a complaint alleging that her daughter was murdered for not being able to meet the dowry demand. The victim, who got married in 2009, was allegedly being tortured both physically and mentally by her husband and in-laws,” said Dey. The victim’s parents, who are poor, failed to meet their dowry demands, the police said quoting the written complaint.

Singh was later remanded to custody after a local sub-divisional judicial magistrate court rejected his bail application, the police said.