NEW DELHI, Apr 9: She had fixed her daughter’s marriage for April 16, but 10 days before the solemn ceremony, Anita elopes with her would be son-in-law taking with her all the cash and jewellery kept at home for the marriage.
The invitations for the marriage of Shivani with Rahul was printed, several of them distributed and the relatives invited and no one was prepared for the twist of the situation, except perhaps Anita.
The incident happened in a village under Madrak police station in Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh. The devastated bride-to-be said her mother, Anita, not only eloped with her husband-to-be but also took all the cash – over Rs 3.5 lakh – and jewellery – worth over Rs 5 lakh – that the family had at home.
“I was supposed to marry Rahul on April 16, and my mother eloped with him on Sunday. Rahul and my mother used to talk on the phone a lot over the past three to four months. We had Rs 3.5 lakh in cash in the almirah and jewellery worth over Rs 5 lakh. She has done everything he asked him to. She has not left even Rs 10 behind. My mother has taken all our money,” said Shivani.
Anita lived in the village with her daughter while Shivani’s father Jitendra Kumar was in Bengaluru running a business. “She can do what she wants now, we don’t care. All we want is that the money and jewellery should be returned to us,” he said. He said he had heard that Anita had been talking to her would-be son-in-law for hours on end, but though suspected something fishy decided not to say anything since the wedding was scheduled to take place soon
He has now filed a missing persons report for his wife. “That man would not speak to my daughter but would keep talking to my wife. I live in Bengaluru to run my business. I had heard that, for the past three months, they would talk to each other for 22 hours a day. I was suspicious but did not say anything because the wedding was around the corner. Anita left with the man on April 6 and took all our cash and jewellery,” said Mr Kumar.
“I called Anita several times, but she had switched off her phone. I called the man too, but he kept denying that she was with him. Hours later, he finally said I had troubled my wife for 20 years and that I should forget about her. Their phones were switched off after that,” he added.
Mr Kumar said the police had told him that they would be able to track down Anita and Rahul soon. An official from the Madrak police station said, “A missing persons report was filed. We have registered a case and started an investigation. Necessary action will be taken.”
(Manas Dasgupta)
