Maid commits suicide, relatives doubt foul play

KOCHI: Suspecting foul play the relatives of Amutha, 18, who is reported to have committed suicide on October 4, have submitted a complaint to the District Collector of Vilupuram, Tamil Nadu. Amutha from Vilipuram was working as a domestic help at a house in  Kothamangalam, for the past two-and-half years through an agency run by Lalitha, said her brother Elumalai. “On October 4, I got a call from Amutha’s employer asking me to go to Kerala as Amutha was seriously ill. Later he told me to come with four people in a car,” said Elumalai.“The police inspector at Kothamangalam told us that Amutha had committed suicide and showed us her photo in the hanging posture,” Elumalai said. As they did not know the local language communication was tough. “We got to see a glimpse of her face alone,” he said.  “We suspect Amutha was molested and murdered because the photo does not seem convincing. Moreover, the employer offered us huge amounts of money even though he was not paying her wages regularly,” Elumalai said.Though she was only 18, the FIR in Cr No 1071 of 2011 on the file of the Kothamangalam police station has recorded the age of Amutha as 25 years, social activist Lucie said.But Kothamangalam sub-inspector P H Sameesh said that the case was suicide as reported in the post-mortem report. Since the doctors have stated that it is a case of suicide we have not investigated further, he said.   On May 2009, Amutha was employed as domestic help for ` 4,000. “After four months when my mother and I visited her in Kakkanad, we were given `10,000,” he said. “In May 2010, Amutha came home for holidays, but the wife of the employer repeatedly phoned her to get back soon.  Amutha expressed displeasure, but she decided to go as they owed her a lot of money. We were not allowed to accompany Amutha to the house, as the employer who came to pick her up would not hear of it,” said Elumalai.  Even when she came home last May, they kept phoning her to return home soon. She was reluctant to go, but as the employer owed her ` 66,000, we persuaded her to go, telling that we would pick her as soon as the amount was paid.