Indian woman murdered in Moscow

A young woman from this Jharkhand capital, who was married to an Indian tea exporter based in Moscow, has been killed for dowry, her family here said.

The parents of Ambika Sharma, who died in Moscow, blamed the murder on her husband.

On Tuesday night Ambika's family received a call from a neighbour of hers in Moscow saying she died after falling from the 10th floor of the apartment where she lived with her husband and in-laws.

"It is not an accident. It is a murder which has been carried out in a planned way," Ambika's brother Basant Lal said.

"After two months of marriage her husband and in-laws had started torturing her for dowry. They were putting pressure on Ambika to get Rs 500,000 from us as they wanted to purchase a flat in Moscow," he said.

The in-laws often beat her, the family alleged. Ambika was married in 2003. She gave birth to twins in December.

"She used to call us regularly and tell us about the torture she was subjected to," said a wailing sister of Ambika.

The family members said they wanted to lodge a police complaint against their daughter's in-laws but the police here refused to accept any complaint, saying that the incident had occurred in Russia.