Why is Maharashtra Police silent, asks Neetu’s family

KATHMANDU - Reacting to the statement issued to Nepal’s media by former MP Amresh Kumar Singh that his estranged wife Neetu Singh was deported by the Indian police over complaints by her father and brother, Neetu’s family said it was a “pre-planned conspiracy” by Singh.

Agitation and tension prevailed in Neetu’s parental home in Bhadrapur town in eastern Nepal’s Jhapa district, where she has taken shelter since her deportation by the Maharasthra Police last month from Pune. She was a final year student at the Film and Television Training Institute.

“If Amresh’s claim that our complaint to the police commissioner of Pune resulted in Neetu’s deportation last month is true, then why is the Maharashtra Police silent?” Neetu’s brother Rupesh Singh said to IANS.

“The Maharashtra Police is facing a lot of flak over the deportation. It has also been asked by the Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram to explain why Neetu was deported for allegedly anti-India activities.

“Wouldn’t the police have produced the letters we are supposed to have written to them to absolve themselves? Where is the evidence we wrote such letters? Who received them at the police commissioner’s office? When were they received? Surely police keep a log of all serious complaints.”

Rupesh Singh, a physician at the Rapti Regional Hospital in Nepal, claimed the entire episode was a “pre-planned conspiracy” by Amresh Singh, who “mentally tortured them” and tried to “drive a wedge between them and Neetu” by misleading both sides.

“It’s true we went to Pune to meet Neetu in August,” Singh said. “But we did not do it voluntarily. Singh tormented us saying she was going to disappear from Pune. And it was he who made arrangements for us to travel, including getting Nepal police to drive us part of the way, which shows his clout.”

When they reached Pune, Neetu’s brother says Singh created a “fear psychosis”.

“He made us stay in the hotel, first saying it was unsafe to venture out due to the outbreak of swine flu and then that Neetu had filed a complaint to police against us,” Singh said. “On the other hand, he told Neetu we were refusing to meet her due to rumours about her.”

He says Amresh then sent a henchman, who made them write an ambiguous letter to the police commissioner, asking to help create a situation so that they could meet Neetu.

“But we saw the man put the letter in his pocket,” Singh said. “We think it was never delivered and was instead used by Singh to mislead people. Which father would accuse his daughter of anti-national activities?”

The physician said Amresh was trying to assassinate Neetu’s character by spreading the allegation that she was having an affair with a fellow student that caused their marriage to break up.

“In South Asia, that’s what men do when they have no real ground to attack a woman - accuse her of having a bad character. If you ask Neetu’s colleagues in Pune, they will tell you what sort of a woman she is.”

Neetu’s family said they did not know why matters came to such a head.

“If the marriage was not a happy one, there could have been a divorce,” Singh said. “But to bare marital problems in public like this!”

Right now, he said the family was focusing on helping Neetu get her mental equilibrium back as well as her legal documents.

“Her passport, citizenship certificate and other documents were spirited away from the Kathmandu airport as well as her mobile phone containing threatening messages by Singh,” he said.

“It was a systematic ploy to ensure that she would not be able to fight back.”