Family members of the deceased Queeny Mantri, waiting for the postmortem report at Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 20: The husband and father-in-law of Queeny Mantri alias Sakhi who died yesterday under mysterious circumstances, were arrested today.

They were arrested under sections 498 (a) (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 302 (murder), 304 (b) (dowry death) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC as well as section 4 of the Dowry Prevention act. The duo would be produced in the court tomorrow.

Earlier in the day, Queeny’s family members had lodged a complaint with the Balianta police alleging that she was killed by her in-laws for dowry.

Queeny’s in-laws had told the police yesterday that she had committed suicide by taking poison following a family dispute. The police had detained her husband Bijay Mohanty (23) and father-in-law Damodar Mohanty.

The body of the woman was sent for postmortem in front of her family members. After postmortem it was handed over to them.

The paternal uncle of the deceased, Aswini Mantri, said: “Recently our daughter, while talking to us over phone, had told that her in-laws had been demanding Rs 40,000 dowry. She even told us that they had been torturing her.”

He even alleged that Queeny was just 15-years-old when she got married to Bijay.

According to her father-in-law, she had been forcing her husband to take a house on rent in the city and stay there. But Bijay was not in favour of it, as his income was meagre.

Her in-laws said they admitted her to the Capital Hospital yesterday after they saw foam coming out of her mouth. Doctors at the hospital declared her dead and informed the police, who then detained her husband and father in-law for questioning.

The Balianta police said that they had got the complaint from the family members of the deceased.

“Following the complaint we have registered a case,” said a police officer.