A criminal overnight

A Criminal Over-Night!
6th June 1998:
I woke up and got ready awaiting my brother-in-law. He had said he would come at 9 am to
take me to a lawyer to make my husband’s will. I waited for him but he didn’t come.
I opened the main door of my house and saw my mother-in-law sitting on the steps between
our flats. I went to sit with her hoping we both would find solace in each other as we both
had suffered a major loss. I sat next to her on the steps and reached out for her hand.
Suddenly, she told me “Tere ghar ke ek ek bartan pe mera haq hai.” I have a right on each
and every vessel in your house. I was shocked. Why was she saying this? I let it go and
ignored it. I asked her to come in and she refused, so I returned to my house as I had chores
to do. Her statement kept bothering me.
At around 10 am everyone flocked down to my house for breakfast. Since both the houses
were not supposed to cook till the 4th day of mourning, my parents were arranging for all the
meals. I saw my brother-in-law and asked him what happened? We were supposed to go to
the lawyer. He made an excuse and deferred it.
The following day was the prayer meeting in the evening. After it was over I sat in my room
surrounded by relatives who had come to offer condolence. My mother-in-law called me up
and told me to be ready by seven the next morning to go to the temple with my brother-in-
law, and after that to my husband’s office to open it.
My sister-in-law’s best friend came to my house to pay her respects. She hugged me and
whispered in my ears, “I am coming from upstairs. Please don’t trust anyone and don’t sign
any papers.” I was stunned. After a while, my mother-in-law came down to remind me to be
ready by 7 am the next day. This time I told her that I would take my brother along with me to
the temple and the office. My mother-in-law flatly refused, saying, “Mera beta ke office mein
aur koi aadmi jayega toh mein uski taange thod doongi.” If another man steps into my son’s
office, I will break his legs.
Her vehement response shocked me. Now I was convinced something was not right. So, I
insisted, saying I will not go without my brother. She got angry, threw a fit and fainted there. I
panicked and called my sister-in-law and told her that mom had fainted. She came down
from my mother-in-law’s apartment above. She came to the room where my mother-in-law
was lying and in a stern voice asked her to get up. To my surprise, she scrambled to her feet
as if nothing had happened and they both left. After about an hour, she called me and told
me that the pujari at the temple told us not to come the next day.
My in-laws then called me upstairs to their house and told me about the HINDU
SUCCESSION ACT… IF A MAN DIES INTESTATE, MEANING WITHOUT A WILL, THEN
HIS LEGAL HEIRS ARE HIS MOTHER, WIFE AND CHILDREN.
Why were they telling me all this? What was going on? I yet did not understand the
repercussions of this. That night I got a call from the guard at my husband’s factory.
My father-in-law resided in the temple he had built on the same property as our factories. He
had sent some men to break all the factory locks and get them replaced with his own locks. I
was not aware of what hit me then. It had not even been a week since my husband had passed away

The next day he had a new key sent to me. However, he said that now I could not
touch anything in the factory without my mother-in-law’s consent. He then spoke to my father
and suggested that he take my children and me to Bombay to live with him. Life is not easy
for a single woman with children, he said matter-of-factly. I had presumed that I would be
taking care of my old mother-in-law after my husband’s passing. So, his suggestion came as a surprise to me. But he told me not to worry as she will be taken care of.
In a few days, my maternal family left except my eldest sister who stayed back to help me.
My brother-in-law was leaving for Pune as he stayed there. I went up to meet him and saw that my mother-in-law was giving him a list of groceries that she needed for her house. Now that my husband was not there, my brother-in-law would look into it. I sat there and waited for him to ask me if I too needed anything but they ignored me. I felt very hurt by this
incident.
Three months went by. I would go to my late husband’s office every day to sort out his affairs. My husband’s paperwork was not very good, so none of us could make out anything.I was lucky to receive help from my husband’s friends as this was a completely unfamiliar
environment for me. I didn’t even know how to fill out a bank slip. And now I was left to sort
out factory papers and liabilities. My husband owed money to a few people. Creditors had started coming to my office and calling me for their money. I was hassled but I had to be strong for my children. One day a man walked into my office and threatened that if I did not return their money he would have me picked up from my office. I was paralysed with fear. As soon as he left the office, I broke down. I had lived such a sheltered existence all my life. I suddenly
felt like someone had thrown me to the vultures. My husband’s staff member ran up to his friend’s office in the same building and his friend came rushing down. That man was Godsent. He stood by me from that day till many years after, ensuring that I learnt how to
stand on my feet.We started with selling my car – an old Maruti 800, for Rs 25,000/- and gave the money to my husband’s niece. She had had serious financial problems and had given my husband
money on interest. We went on to sell my computer, some fabric kept in the office and two exhaust fans to pay off the debt of other creditors. My younger sister-in-law’s father-in-law
offered to help me. He was very well respected in our community and he really helped make
my life easy. As soon as my my-in-laws realised, they called him up and told him not to
interfere in their house affairs.
I used the money which my father gave me for three months to run the house. When I ran
out of money, I asked my brother-in-law for help. He asked me to sell the phones in my
husband’s office and use it for our expenses. I could get by for a month by doing that. The following month I ran out of finances again. This time he asked me to sell the two air conditioners in the office with the help of my husband’s friend – the angel. So, I sold them
and managed once again. After that, the following month again I went to him and this time
he told me that he could not help me in any way. But as my father was a rich man, I should take his help. There was nothing wrong in doing that.
I just could not bring myself to ask my father for help, but there came a time when my brother-in-law stopped taking my calls and I was not allowed to sell anything from the factory without his consent. I was like a shuttle cock tossing between my father-in-law and brother -in-law for help as they would not help me with money and would not let me sell any assets either.
One day I got to know that my husband had not paid the factory electricity bill since a few months before his death. The company people had come to cut the power and to take back the meter. We owed them Rs 45,000. Try to put into perspective what this amount meant 22 years ago.
Finally, I had to take a decision and sell some yarn that was kept in my husband’s factory. I was cornered and I had no option but to do it without taking consent from my in-laws. The yarn was worth Rs 80,000 – a solution to all my problems. But when the tempo came to pick up the goods my father-in-law got to know about it. He called the watchman of our property and told him not to open the gate for the tempo to leave.
The watchman came to me – the poor man did not know what to do. He had a lot of respect for my husband and was sympathetic towards me. We were the ones who gave him his salary. He told me that he cannot open the gate so I asked him if I opened it would he stop me? He said not all. So I
went ahead and opened the gate myself and let the tempo out.
In a span of one hour, all hell broke loose. My father-in-law and brother-in-law called the
police and filed a complaint against me. The cops rushed to the factory to arrest me and insisted I sit in the police van. My husband’s friends had anticipated trouble and landed up at the factory earlier on. They spoke to the police in Gujarati as I didn’t know it and convinced them they would get me to the police station in a car. My husbands friends – my pillars of strength – escorted me to the police station and sitting there were my father-in-law and my brother-in-
law. They saw me and laughed casually. I was mortified at the whole scenario. Somehow, I
had the confidence that I had done no wrong so nothing wrong would happen to me.
The police inspector sitting there pointed to me and told his subordinate, “Isko andar le jao.”
Put her into the lock-up. Then I started trembling with fear and told him to at least listen to
me but he sternly repeated, “Isko andhar le jao.”
At that very moment one of my husband’s friends came inside talking to someone on his
mobile. He told the inspector “Sahib, inse baat karo”. Sir, please talk to him. He made him
speak with some bigshot who had a lot of connections. Bless that friend for intervening at
that moment. The gentleman on the phone told the inspector, “Ye hamari ghar ki beti hai”. Don’t touch her, let her go immediately.
After keeping the phone, the inspector did a 180-degree turn. He asked my in-laws if I had
hit them. They said no. He asked me if they had hit me and I too denied. Then he said why
did you people come here? This is a civil matter, please go to the court. Saying that, he released me. My in-laws were very upset and disappointed. For me, I could not thank God enough for rescuing me.
I immediately returned to the office, took the money from the sale of the yarn and gave Rs.
45,000 to my husband’s staff member who had earlier called the angel friend to rescue me.
That blessed man had stayed on for two months after my husband’s death without a penny
of salary (I still tie him rakhi as he made me his sister). I asked him to pay the electricity bill the next day. The trauma of the day’s events only hit me after I reached home.
I had to tell my mother-in-law what her son and husband had done with me. She was a woman; surely, she would understand my plight. When I entered her house, I saw my exbrother-in-law lying down with his head in her lap and they both were sharing a laugh. I left as quietly as I had come.

I did not mention any of this to my children. I wanted to protect them from all this so I kept a
brave front before them. They were already fighting their own battles. How could I load my
little ones with the harsh truth about their own relatives?
My husband’s life insurance was about to come through. My in-laws had their eyes on it.They sweet-talked the insurance agent by purchasing a big policy through him and convinced him to send all the cheques their way. With a fat commission in sight, how could
the agent refuse them? Once again, my angel intervened. Somehow, he got to know about this nexus through an acquaintance working in the insurance firm. He quickly arranged for me to pick up all my cheques before my agent could acquire them and pass them to my in-laws. How will I do this? What if they got to know? But my angel pushed me and I mustered
the courage. The cheques came home with me and I instantly deposited them.
Nothing surprised me after this incident. I received a court notice in the next few days. My in-
laws had filed a criminal case against me. They wanted 20% of every penny that came into
my house. From the sale of the yarn, the insurance money, sale of the exhaust fans, the computer and the air-conditioners from the office.
After this incident, my father-in-law came down very hard on me and insisted I open a joint account with my mother-in-law. He would help me to sell all the machines, the yarn and the textile in the factory. The money would then go into the joint account after which we would
pay the bank loans and overdraft. What was left would be divided between my family and my
mother-in-law at an 80-20 ratio. I was very wary of doing this because by now I knew I could
not trust them one bit. He also told me that besides the 20% which I owed my mother-in-law,
I also needed to give him Rs. 32,00,000 for the upbringing and education of his son!
I called my brother and started crying. Now I couldn’t even afford the STD bills for the calls
that I used to make to my brother-in-law in Pune. My father realised my plight and started
sending me Rs. 20,000 every month for my children’s school fees and home expenses.
Finally, after being forced by my father-in-law I agreed to open a joint account with my
mother-in-law, that too in a private bank whose manager my father-in-law knew very well.
With great apprehension, I opened the account in Diamond Jubilee Bank opposite our factory. On the bank card, I wrote to be operated by Me Only. We managed to sell some machinery and yarn and put the money in the joint account.

My husband’s machines were mortgaged to the bank and he also had an overdraft which he had
used. So, from the sale money, we paid off the overdraft and the mortgage on the other
machines. Immediately after this was done my father-in-law froze the bank account. He even
sent a legal document to me, to my residential building stating they should not transfer the house in
my name as my mother-in-law also had a right in it. He then sent similar letters to the bank
as well.
My husband had constructed a commercial building on our property. He had sold some
offices and the money was still due from some people. My father-in-law sent letters to all of
them not to pay me anything. It was horrifying – the legal notices and all the pressure they
put on me.
My husband may have left a mess of paperwork, but he did leave me a legacy of very good friends. They stood by me like rocks. My parents were in constant touch with them for they feared my safety. They would sit with me for hours teaching me accounts. And now they helped me to get a lawyer. I did not understand much of all this, so one of them would
accompany me to the lawyer’s office late in the evenings.
Talking to the lawyers initially was all jargon to me and I would feel so sleepy. After a hard day’s battle in the factory and coping with the legal notices, I would start dozing off in the lawyer’s office. My friends would patiently nudge me to pay attention and keep my eyes
open. After all, it was my battle and I needed to understand everything the lawyer spoke.
The legal duel started with me replying to their notice. They had forged my signature in my
bank account to freeze it so I sent them a legal notice and asked for signature verification.
The case went to the forensic department for signature verification, but nothing happened. I waited for a couple of months then I appealed to the head of the crime department to look into this. While he did not help me with the case, he started to call me to his office on some
pretext or the other. The random calls continued and I started getting them at midnight – I am
patrolling in your area. Should I come up to see if all is ok?
Scared and bewildered at a powerful man’s unwanted advances, I didn’t know what to do
other than politely refuse every time. Then finally one day I went to the same gentleman who
had got me out of the police station and asked him for help. He was so nice he said, “Puttar, sit in my car. I will solve your problem. His driver took us to the crime department head’s office. There again, he told the officer that I was his daughter and henceforth he would helme. The gentleman thanked him and told him not to call me anymore.
A whole year had passed since my husband’s death. I had two suits against me by now -one
civil and one criminal. I was meeting lawyers all the time. Meanwhile, my husband’s cousin –
the one who had taken the office keys from me right after his death – was consulting a lawyer to file suit # 3 against me.