CHENNAI: A 33-year-old woman lodged a complaint against her husband Raj Babu (59), who is the brother of Samajwadi MP and former Bollywood actor Jayaprada, alleging dowry harassment and also claiming that he had taken her son away and was not allowing her to meet the child.
“When I asked my husband to let me meet my son, Rajmuthu (8), he threatened to kill my son,” Usa of Velachery said after submitting her complaint at the City Police Commissionerate.
Usa had fled from her in-laws house in January 2006, unable to bear being tortured for dowry any longer, and was living with her mother, Vijayasundaram, at Velachery. “Raj Babu has since been calling my mother, threatening to kill us both if the child is not handed over to him,” claimed Usa.
“One day he visited my son’s school and urged Rajmuthu to accompany him. When my son refused, Raj Babu visited us and threatens to kill us. We handed over my son to the T Nagar police station as he had asked us to,” said Usa, whose sister acted in Tamil actor Vijay’s movie Friends.
“On Deepavali, when I contacted my husband asked to meet my son, Raj Babu said that if I ask for the child again he would kill him,” she said. Usa was married to Raj Babu in 1999 and she gave birth to a boy in 2000. Her in-laws had harassed her for dowry since the day of marriage.
Usa’s father had given dowry worth Rs 6 lakh. Despite this, the mother-in-law continued torturing her. “I withstood all the torture for the sake of my child. However, one day my husband came home drunk and beat both me and the child. That is when I left the house with my son,” she said.