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In a distressing incident, Athulya Sekhar, a woman hailing from Kerala, was found dead in the UAE in her apartment on Saturday, leading the Kerala Police to register a murder case against her husband. The death of Athulya, the mother of a 10-year-old girl, has sent fresh shockwaves through the Indian community in the UAE, Gulf News reported.

Athulya’s death coincided with her 30th birthday and the first day of a new job, Gulf News reported, citing her family.

Athulya Sekhar was found dead in her flat in the Rolla area, according to her sister and brother-in-law living in Sharjah.

According to the complaint filed by the victim's mother, her husband, Satheesh, strangled her, kicked her stomach, and hit her head with a plate between July 18 and 19, leading to her death, India Today reported.

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Dowry Harassment Allegation Against Husband

Athulya's family alleged that she was repeatedly harassed for not bringing enough dowry at the time of their marriage in 2014, despite having given a bike and 43 sovereigns of gold, India Today reported.

A case has been registered against Satheesh under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. The woman’s family has alleged that she endured years of mental and physical abuse due to persistent dowry demands.

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Husband Denies Allegations By In-Laws

Addressing the media from the UAE, Satheesh has denied the allegations, claiming he had no role in Athulya’s death. He said he did not believe she would die by suicide and that he, too, was seeking answers.

'Death Very Suspicious': Family

However, her father said that the circumstances around her death were very suspicious. “I don’t believe that my daughter will die by suicide. She shares a very intimate relationship with her daughter. Her death is mysterious. We have to find out what exactly happened to her. He is an alcoholic. He always gets violent. She bore all the torture for her. Earlier also, such issues had happened, and a case was filed with the police. We want to know what exactly happened to her,” he said.

In addition, the woman's family also released footage showing Athulya with visible injury marks and her husband appearing to lift a plastic stool to hit her.

“We will be visiting the Sharjah Police for completing the formalities of filing the case tomorrow. We are also approaching the Indian Consulate in Dubai,” Gulf News quotes her brother-in-law as saying on Sunday.

The incident comes weeks after the death of another Malayali woman, 32, and her 16-month-old daughter in Sharjah, in what the police said was a murder-suicide. The forensic report had confirmed that the woman had died by hanging herself after suffocating the child to death on July 8, which was reportedly due to marital conflicts between the couple.