Delhi businessman, kin arrested year after dowry death

New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS) A 32-year-old businessman and three of his family members were finally caught here Friday after a year of evading arrest for allegedly setting his wife on fire for dowry, the police said.

Vikram Singh, his mother Surender Kaur, 58, sister Seema Malhotra, 32, and their relative Nirmal Singh, 50, were arrested from Sultanpuri area in northwest Delhi.

They are alleged to have poured kerosene over Vikram's wife Simran Singh, 27, and set her afire in December last year at their Tilak Nagar home.

The victim, who hailed from Bahadurgarh in Haryana, had two children from the marriage. Vikram runs a small iron factory in the capital.

The police said at the time of incident, the victim's father-in-law Mukhtar Singh and brother-in-law Gulshan Kumar Malhotra were arrested but the rest of the family managed to escape. A city court then announced a reward of Rs.5,000 for each of the accused.

'They had been demanding a huge dowry amount from the victim. They torched her when she failed to meet their demands. We have arrested them on charges of murder and dowry,' said a police official.

In India, dowry is the money or valuables given to a woman by her parental family at the time of marriage. Many women are killed by their in-laws when they fail to fetch dowry.