Hyderabad-based sweet manufacturer Pulla Reddy’s grandson booked for dowry harassment

G Eknath Reddy, grandson of sweets and snacks manufacturing businessman G Pulla Reddy, was booked by the Hyderabad police on Friday, May 13, on charges of domestic violence and dowry harassment. His wife, Pragnya Reddy, has alleged that Eknath, his parents and his sister had been demanding additional dowry apart from the Rs 1.3 crore of cash and jewellery taken at the time of their wedding in 2014. Pragnya also alleged that her husband and in-laws have tried to kill her, and also threatened to kill their seven-year-old daughter. On May 12, her in-laws allegedly constructed a wall outside her room, restricting Pragnya and her daughter from accessing food and water, and allegedly instructed their staff members not to help them. She said she then complained to the police over the phone and contacted her father, who went to Hyderabad from Bengaluru to help them out. 

According to Pragnya’s complaint to the Punjagutta police, at the time of her wedding to Eknath in March 2014, her family fulfilled their dowry demands with Rs 75 lakh in cash, gold and silver worth Rs 19.5 lakh, and a diamond necklace worth Rs 35 lakh as ‘adapaduchu katnam’ (‘sister-in-law dowry’), a separate component of the dowry specifically meant for the groom’s sister. Pragnya mentioned in her complaint that she later found out that her husband had been suffering from blood cancer. She alleged that her husband and in-laws — his parents G Raghava Reddy and Bharati Reddy, and sister G Srividya Reddy — with whom they lived as a joint family, demanded an additional dowry in the form of commercial property in Hyderabad, as she is the only daughter to her parents. 

As she failed to satisfy these demands for additional dowry, she alleged that her in-laws conspired together and her husband filed a divorce petition in 2021. She said she then filed interim petitions for an injunction to restrain her husband and in-laws not to dispossess her from their residence and another petition for interim maintenance in the same case. These are still pending adjudication, she said, adding that her counterclaim for restitution of conjugal rights has also been filed. 

Meanwhile, Eknath’s parents had filed a petition with the Begumpet RDO (Revenue Divisional Officer) under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, with the intention of evicting her and her daughter from their house, Pragnya alleged. 

She also alleged in her complaint that her husband and his parents tried to kill her by suffocating her with a pillow on May 10. When she tried to lodge a police complaint after this, they threatened to kill her daughter and her parents, she alleged. She also alleged that they threatened to evict her soon by disconnecting power and water to her room. 

On the morning of May 12, she said she found that a wall had been constructed on the first floor, blocking access to the rest of the house. She said her husband and in-laws had got the wall built in the early hours and left the house, locking it from outside, leaving her and her daughter confined without food and water. She then informed the police about the same and lodged a complaint, she said. 

Based on her complaint, police have registered a case against her husband and in-laws under Sections 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) r/w 34 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code), and Sections 3 and 4  of The Dowry Prohibition Act.