Dr Shahna sent text messages to Ruwais, but it was blocked

Thiruvananthapuram: In the death of Dr. Shahna, a postgraduate student of Thiruvananthapuram medical college, the father of the accused, Dr. Ruwais, has been named as the second accused. Abdul Rasheed, allegedly involved in demanding dowry, has been named in the accused list. Shahna's mother reported to the police that Ruwais's family caused mental distress to her daughter due to their dowry demands.

The Medical College Police have requested custody of Ruwais, who is directed to appear before the court on Tuesday. The orders have been issued to the jail authorities. Further questioning of Ruwais will be done on the day the police get custody. The police are also looking into whether any marriage-related functions occurred in Karunagapally and Venjaramoodu. A suicide note written by Shahna and statements from her relatives were investigated and based on this, Ruwais's father was named as accused.

Police suspect that Ruwais's family's exorbitant dowry demands placed Shahna under severe mental distress, leading to the cancellation of the wedding. Cyber City Assistant Commissioner D.K. Prithviraj stated that the police plan to expedite the investigation and will submit the charge sheet soon.

Dr. Shahna had messaged Dr. Ruwais just before taking her own life, expressing the inability to meet the substantial dowry demands. However, Ruwais blocked her, deleted messages on WhatsApp, and did not respond to Shahna's distressing messages.

Despite Ruwais admitting to the police about deleting messages, they were recovered from Shahna's phone. The police sought assistance from the Cyber Police to retrieve the deleted messages from Ruwais's phone. Prior to the wedding, discussions occurred at both Shahna's and Ruwais's houses, but Ruwais later reneged on the marriage under the pretext of dowry, according to the police.