Karnataka: IAS officer, kin booked for dowry harassment

BENGALURU: IAS officer Akash Shankar, working as chief executive officer of Kodagu zilla panchayat at present, his parents and brother have been booked on dowry harassment charges.
Akash's wife Dr S Vandana had filed a complaint with the women's police station in Bengaluru east last month, alleging that her husband and others had beaten her up and issued threats.
Police have booked Akash, 33, his father Shankar, 63, mother Chandrika and younger brother Vikas Shankar, 29, under the Dowry Prohibition Act and sections of Indian Penal Code 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (act with criminal intimidation).
Akash told TOI that the allegations were baseless and made to tarnish his image. "Law will take its own course and truth will come out," he said. Dr Vandana, daughter of former DIG TS Suresh, alleged that after the engagement on March 1, 2022, Akash's mother demanded a diamond watch for him.
"We gifted Akash a Rado watch and a gold ring. My father spent Rs 3.5 lakh on the engagement ceremony. On March 6, 2022, Akash's father demanded an expensive car and my father gifted him an Audi-Q7. We got married on June 10, 2022 and the expenses came to Rs 50 lakh.
I found Akash talking regularly to a woman on his mobile and when I questioned, he beat me up. He asked me to bring more dowry in the form of property and buy a house in Bengaluru. On December 11, 2022, I was thrown out of the house. On March 5 this year, my father took me to their residence for conciliation. But they abused us," the complaint read.