In her complaint, Rajeswari, married to an Indian Air Force officer Satyanarayana Rao (presently working in New Delhi as a Squadron Officer) has alleged that her husband, his mother Saraswathi, two brothers Shantaram and Venkatesh Prasad, besides Vittala Rao and Nagaraja Rao who negotiated the marriage, were harassing her for dowry.

Earlier on October 20, the magistrate had released them on conditional bail and directed them to appear before Gandhi Nagar police every alternate day.

Girijapathi, circle inspector under whose supervision the case is being investigated, said he had sent a team to Davanagere to arrest Venkatesh Prasad -- who is working in the Bank of India -- and his mother. The team returnedwithout arresting them since their house was locked and Venkatesh Prasad was reportedly on leave.

Another team has been sent to Delhi to arrest Satyanarayana Rao. Girijapathi said there was no need to intimate the Indian Air Force in advance about the arrest.

Police have started the investigation and apart from the above persons, they would also interrogate the wives of Shanta Ram and Venkatesh Prasad, who have not been named in the First Information Report. He said Rajeswari had stated before the police that both the women had been silent spectators when she was assaulted by her husband and in-laws.

Rajeswari married Satyanarayana Rao on May 22, 1998 at Bellary. Her parents paid Rs 15,000 as dowry, another 2,000 towards procuring garments, besides spending Rs 50,000 towards marriage expenditure. A gold ring (weighing 5 gm) was presented to her husband at the time of marriage, Rajeshwari said.

However, when she joined her husband at Bangalore after the marriage, his mother Saraswathi and his brothersstarted constantly pestering her for more. ``During our honeymoon, my husband also repeatedly abused me for failure to procure more dowry. On August 27, he threatened to strangle me while travelling in the train. I died almost every day. On five occasions, my husband throttled my neck. Once he even tried to push me from a hill-top where he took me at midnight,'' she stated in her complaint.

According to her, her in-laws not only did not let her join her husband at Rajkokry where he was working, but also beat her up and compelled her to leave the house. Rajeswari stated that she apprehended grave threat to her life from these persons. The two mediators who brokered the alliance too have been insisting that she agree to the dowry demands. She stated that her parents are from a weaker strata of society and cannot pay any more dowry.

Rajeswari, a B Com graduate, plans to resume her education and earn her bread. ``I consoled my parents and asked them to treat me as their son. I filed a police complaint as I donot want any other woman to suffer what I suffered.''