HYDERABAD: A day after she was beaten up by her in-laws while attending the last rites of her husband, Swathi, wife of the Seattle software engineer Madhukar Reddy Gudur, denied that she had any role in the death of her husband. She claimed that he was under depression and was often a victim to the verbal and physical abuse by her husband as he suffered from extreme mood swings.
Madhukar Reddy ended his life on April 4 in Seattle, and his body reached his native place in Yadadri Bhongir district on Tuesday for final rites. During the ceremony, Madhukar Reddy’s family attacked Swathi, blaming her for his death.
Swathi feared a threat to her life from Madhukar Reddy’s family and sought Telangana government’s help in providing her with security. “I am deeply disturbed after the sudden death of my husband. I travelled all the way with his body and I wasn’t even allowed to see him at the funeral. I have a four-year-old daughter and I request my in-laws to help me in taking care of her,” Swathi said.
Though she admitted that she was not aware of specific reasons for her husband’s act, she said that it could be because he feared that his job contract with the US firm was ending in June.
“He was constantly worried about this and I used to try and explain to him that he needs to be bold and apply at other places. Attending an interview after 10 years is not an easy task, but I tried to motivate him,” added Swathi.
She also suggested that he seek medical help for his mental condition to which he obliged. “Our fights were small. You can ask me why I stayed despite the abuse. The reason is that he wasn’t always like that. He also realised how his mood swings used to affect me and he was apologetic about it. I knew he was going through a bitter phase, but he made a mistake by committing suicide,” expressed Swathi.
Showing Madhukar’s browse history where he visited sites to learn about ways to commit suicide, Swathi said that some people mislead Madhukar’s parents into believing that she was the reason behind his act and this led to differences with her in-laws.