Pavithra, whose disappearance from her home in Ambur on May 24 led to the arrest of a 26-year old Shameel Ahmed in connection with the case and triggered widespread violence in the locality following his death, was picked up from a hostel in Ambattur on Saturday night.
According to Vellore police, the woman was working in a textile shop in Ambattur. “She fled home in May as she did not like her husband. She then went to Erode to meet Shameel Ahmed, whom she knows for the past one year,” said P. Ganesan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ambur.
He allegedly rented a house for her in Erode. “But after a few days, he asked Pavithra to return to Ambur, as he feared repercussion from his relatives.
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But instead of going home, she fled to Chennai and with the help of some friends, she got a job and started staying in a hostel,” the officer said, adding that they tracked Pavithra to Chennai using her mobile number.
Love affair
Investigations into the case revealed that Shameel Ahmed and Pavithra had fallen in love when they were working in a private factory in Pallikonda. Later, both of them left the company. While Shameel joined a jewellery showroom in Erode, Pavithra found employment in a textile showroom in Chennai. She had gone to Erode to meet Shameel, but he sent her back, police said.
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The 23-year-old was produced before Mummoorthy, Judicial Magistrate-1, Vellore at the latter’s residence here on Sunday. Her production in the Vellore court follows the orders of the Madras High Court on a habeas corpus petition filed by her husband Palani (29) on May 25.
The Ambur DSP told newspersons outside the Judges’ Quarters here on Sunday that the Judicial Magistrate before whom Pavithra was produced ordered that she be accommodated in the Short Stay Home run by the Department of Social Defence in Murukkeri near here and presented before the Madras High Court Judge hearing the habeas corpus petition on Monday.
When Pavithra went missing on May 24, Shameel Ahmed was picked up by the Ambur Taluk Police. Soon, he became unwell and was admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai where he died. His relatives alleged custodial torture.
Following his death, a group of agitators torched two police vehicles and a Tasmac outlet. The group also caused damage to a private hospital, a lodge and seven buses.