New twist in Indian expat Athulya’s birthday death in Sharjah: Will her phone reveal truth after husband's bail?

Dubai: The family of Indian expat Athulya Sekhar, who was found dead on her 30th birthday in Sharjah last month, has said that they are still hopeful of justice in a case they filed accusing her husband, even after he was released on bail following his arrest on Sunday.

As reported on Sunday, immigration officials at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in the south Indian state of Kerala detained Athulya’s husband, Satheesh Sivasankara Pillai, shortly after he landed from the UAE.

He was arrested based on a lookout notice issued against him in connection with a case in which Athulya’s parents alleged that their daughter had been subjected to repeated harassment, physical abuse, and dowry-related demands by Satheesh.

The case was also transferred to the State Crime Branch Department.

Satheesh, who was nabbed upon landing back home, was handed over to the local police and later to the Crime Branch for recording his statement for further investigation.

He was released later in the day, as he had secured anticipatory bail from the District Court in Kollam. On August 8, the court reportedly granted him anticipatory bail on the grounds that Athulya had died by suicide, as per the forensic report issued by the Sharjah authorities, and that he had not been charged in the UAE.

Speaking after his release, Athulya’s family said they want to know the truth behind their daughter’s death.

Her father also said that the family had no knowledge about Satheesh securing anticipatory bail.

Confirming this, Athulya’s brother-in-law in Sharjah told Gulf News that the family had not expected him to be released on bail.

“We didn’t know he had secured the anticipatory bail,” he said.

He also revealed that, though brief, Satheesh’s arrest followed a tip-off he had received from Dubai.

“I got to know the other day that he was flying to Thiruvananthapuram and got the details of the flight from someone here. I informed these details to the police in Kerala, based on which he was detained,” he said.

The brother-in-law, who did not wish to be named, said the family is still hopeful that justice will be done.

“We (he and his wife, Athulya’s sister) had handed over her (Athulya’s) phone to the police. Apparently, Satheesh had tried to unlock the phone, but failed. The access to the phone had got blocked due to repeated attempts to unlock it using wrong passwords.”

The family hopes the evidence from Athulya’s phone will be crucial in the case.

Earlier, they had released videos of Satheesh torturing Athulya mentally and physically.

Based on that and reports about the case registered against him, Satheesh’s company in Dubai had terminated him from his job as a site engineer.

Athulya was found dead in the couple’s apartment in the Rolla area of Sharjah on July 19, her 30th birthday and the day she was supposed to join a new job at a store in a nearby mall. The couple’s only child, a10-year-old daughter, lives with Athulya’s parents.

Athulya’s mortal remains were repatriated to her hometown on July 29 for her funeral , following which an inquest and a re-postmortem was conducted at the request of her family.