From Mohammed Siddique
Dateline: Hyderabad
November 22, 2008
The parents of a young woman from Andhra Pradesh, who was found dead under suspicious circumstances at her home in Northridge near Los Angeles in California on Friday, say they don’t believe she could have committed suicide.
V Kanaka Raju, father of Golli Sushma told the reporters in Hyderabad, that the famly was suspecting it to be the case of murder. “We are suspecting foul play by Suresh Babu (Sushma’s husband”, said Kanaka Raju, a retired engineer of electricity supply corporation of Andhra Pradesh.
Giving the reasons for their suspicion, the family members said that for the last two days, when the parents tried to talk to Sushma over phone, only Suresh Babu was answering the call and he did not gave the phone to Sushma.
“Even after Sushma’s death, he did not call us to inform. We received the information from other relatives”, he said crying inconsolably. Ever since Sushma was found dead in the store room of her home, Suresh did not answer a single call from Sushma’s family.
Even odd was the behavior of Suresh’s parents who also live in Hyderabad. “None of them have called even to console us”, said Kanaka Raju, who stays in Himayatnagar area of Hyderabad. Both Sushma and Suresh were software engineers. While Suresh was working in LA based company, Sushma was not working since her marriage in April last year. “She was content to be a housewife after the marriage”, said a family member. Sushma had joined her husband in US in August last year. Some family members said that Suresh was not happy and satisfied with the dowry given to him at the time of the marriage. “He was also not happy with the soft of function organized for the wedding. He wanted to be much bigger and grand”, another relative said. The family is suspecting that this could have led to problem and violence at their home. the Hindu custom of Dowry, under which the bride’s parents have to give huge sums of money, jewelry and other valubales to the groom and his family, has become a big social menace in India and claim thousands of lives ever years. Even newly wed brides are burnt to death by the greedy grooms if they are not satisfied with the dowry given to them. It is more prevalent at the higher levels of society and among the middle class. Higher the educaton and professonal qualification, more will be the demand and expectation for the dowry. For instance a going rate of dowry for a medical doctor is more than Rs 50 lakhs. Till now an egnieer settled in the US also commanded a high price but after the recent slow down and melt down in US economy, the people have become reluctant to marry their daughters off to the Indian immigrants in US.
However till now the parents have heard any thing from the US authorities or LA police. “We are anxious to hear how the local police is treating this case”, said Kanaka Raju. In next couple of days her younger brother Vamsi was scheduled to leave for the United States to pursue higher education and Sushma was making preparations for his arrival, the family said.
SHASHANK’S FAMILY ON THE WAY TO US Meanwhile in a related development the parents of Shashannk Pulluri have got US visa and they are leaving to be with their son, who is recuperating at a hospital in Tennessee after he was shot by unknown assailants on the university campus.
Sudhakar Rao and Arundhati were issued visa by the US consulate in Chennai and the state government has granted an amount of Rs 4 lakh for the treatment of Shashank, a post graduate student who was shot in the back outside his hostel on November 14. Shashank was doing MS at the Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He was operated twice and a bullet was recovered.