Looks like the issue is seen only using perl 5.18.2, when I moved to different version of perl, the issue is not seen. Thanks for the responses.

a perl -V from the bad version would be useful

http://strawberryperl.com/download/5.18.2.2/strawberry-perl-5.18.2.2-32bit-portable.zip has no such problem :) 

WVM: 19684 { WS: 3056 VM: 724 }
WVM: 19684 { WS: 3128 VM: 736 }
WVM: 19684 { WS: 3128 VM: 736 }
WVM: 19684 { WS: 3128 VM: 736 }
WVM: 19684 { WS: 3128 VM: 736 }
WVM: 19684 { WS: 3128 VM: 736 }
WVM: 19684 { WS: 3128 VM: 736 }
WVM: 19684 { WS: 3128 VM: 736 }
WVM: 19684 { WS: 3128 VM: 736 }
WVM: 19684 { WS: 3128 VM: 736 }
WVM: 19684 { WS: 3128 VM: 736 }

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In reply to Re^2: Memory Usage of Perl System command by Anonymous Monk
in thread Memory Usage of Perl System command by pperi2

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