Malayalam actor Unni Dev jailed for abetment of wife’s suicide

Thiruvananthapuram: A local court on Wednesday send Malayalam actor Unni Dev to 14 days judicial custody for the abetment of his wife’s suicide.

Unni Dev, the son of late actor Rajan P Dev, was arrested on Tuesday after his wife Priyanka ended her life on May 12 by hanging her herself at her home in Vattapara.

Unni Dev, who has acted in a few Malayalam films, has confessed to “causing duress to his wife”, according to the police.

The Nedumangad police team arrived at his home in Ernakulam district on Tuesday and took him into custody after ensuring that he was COVID-19 negative. He was brought to the state capital, where the case was registered.

Unni’s mother has also been named as an accused but as she is still recovering from COVID she will be taken into custody for questioning later.

The Vattapara Police station had registered a case of unnatural death. They said that a day before Priyanka’s death, she had registered a complaint of domestic abuse.

Later her brother also filed a petition pointing at the abuse she had suffered at Unni’s house.

The local police had begun their probe but it got stuck after Unni tested positive for COVID-19.

Unni’s father Dev was a hugely popular film actor. He passed away in 2009 after having acted in over 200 films.

Unni and Priyanka had a love marriage in 2019. Priyanka was working in a private school as a physical education teacher after her marriage.

According to her relatives, initially the marriage was going fine. However, after a while issues began cropping up and of late things had turned ugly and she decided to return to her home and the next day she ended her life.

The relatives of the deceased allege that she was suffering and they claim to have visuals of the same. Unni’s family is yet to speak on the issue.