Dowry charge filed against K’taka IAS officer, family

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Muktsar: A criminal case was registered on Sunday against an IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, his parents and younger brother for demanding a Mercedes in dowry, showing cruelty to his wife and attempt to outrage her modesty. The IAS officer belongs to Hoshiarpur. Dr Preet Inder Kaur, a Muktsar resident posted as medical officer at a rural hospital, lodged the complaint with the police against her husband Ravneet Singh, a 2005-batch officer posted as assistant commissioner, Bidar in Karnataka. They got married on March 24, 2007. In her complaint to the police, Preet Inder Kaur alleged that despite her father, a doctor of Muktsar, spending over Rs 60 lakh on her wedding, she was being harassed from the very first day of her marriage for not bringing a Mercedes. As she declined to meet the demand, her husband never had conjugal relations with her, she alleged, accusing the younger brother of the bureaucrat of attempting to outrage her modesty. She alleged that her marriage was solemnized at Zirakpur, near Chandigarh, and besides jewellery and diamonds worth Rs 15 lakh, Rs 20 lakh in cash was given as dowry. “As I refused to meet their demand of a Mercedes, my husband got annoyed and left for Bidar 15 days after our marriage,’’ she said. The IAS officer’s father, however, rubbished the charges. “The allegations are a bundle of lies to tarnish the image of my family and my son. There was never a demand for dowry. Rather my son was subjected to mental harassment by his wife Dr Preet Inder Kaur,’’ he said.