Thiruvananthapuram: Mother-in-law of Athira, a newly married woman who was found dead at her husband's house with a slit on her neck two weeks ago, was found dead on her house premises at Kallambalam in Thiruvananthapuram district on Tuesday.
The body of Shyamala, mother of Athira's husband Sarath, was found hanging at a tree near their house.
Athira, 24, who got married only a month-and-a-half ago, was found dead in the bathroom on January 15 with injuries on her neck and wrists. Relatives of both Athira and her husband had been suspicious regarding her death.
Athira, the daughter of Shaji and Shreena of Santhamandir at Vennicode in Varkala, died at Sunitha Bhavan near Muthana, Gurumukku, at Kallambalam in Thiruvananthapuram.
Her husband Sarath, a native of Muthana who had returned from abroad just before marriage, had gone to a hospital in Kollam with his father around 8am. His mother was also away from home for some work. Meanwhile, Athira's mother came to visit her around 10am, but did not find anyone at home. Not finding anyone at home, she was enquiring about their whereabouts with the neighbours when Sarath and his father returned.
Upon further searching, they had found the bathroom locked from inside. They then broke open the bathroom door and found Athira dead at around 11.45am.
The families of Athira and Sarath had alleged that she could have been murdered. But, the police, on the basis of the initial postmortem, had concluded that it is a case of suicide since there were no signs on the body that indicate any use of force.
According to the doctors who conducted the post-mortem, the wounds on the neck and wrists were caused by a knife. The police have recovered the knife from the bathroom, which was locked from the inside. A dog squad and fingerprint experts also visited the scene of death.
Athira's mother, however, had said that her daughter would not have committed suicide. She said her daughter was afraid of blood.
Athira's father-in-law also had raised suspicions regarding the circumstances in which she died.
