What would you do if you found out that your family went missing and was brutally murdered and reduced to skeletons? I couldn’t even imagine such a scenario. My family is no more. It has been mercilessly killed and I really have no one.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine something like this. The reality is just too bitter and difficult to swallow. It’s been over a year since I’ve been in a state of shock and frustration, but it looks like there’s just no end to it.
For any father, there can be nothing worse than losing his children particularly after not having seen them at all for months. From the anxious months of waiting and wondering why they’ve been missing, to finding out that they are not alive anymore, has often sent a chill down my spine for months now. It’s been 13 months since the Oshiwara and Igatpuri police has been investigating and I’m tired at the end of all it.
I spoke to Laila, my daughter last in November 2010. I was in South Africa then and we shared a relationship like that of any other father-daughter. She wanted me to bring her chocolates on my way back. I was working in South Africa since 2010 and visited India on and off. Before I could even see her, she was gone. To me, losing her was the greatest setback. Not once did she tell me if she and the family faced any threat or problem. Even on the professional front, things were looking good as far as I knew. I didn’t interfere much with her Bollywood career, and she didn’t tell me either about that world. I was happy for her, as she was happy. In fact, when she did Wafaa, I remember telling her that the film would get her a good break, also because she was acting with yesteryear superstar Rajesh Khanna.
The first time I found something suspicious was in January 2011 when as usual I called to check on their well-being. When they didn’t answer my calls after repeated efforts, I wondered what was wrong. I called my sisters-in-law to check if they were in town and they found out that they weren’t at the Oshiwara flat. We kept trying for the next three months repeatedly, till I flew down to India in May 2011. I know for sure that Celina and kids couldn’t have been staying out of touch with me. They would have surely made that routine call at least. Meanwhile, my sister-in-law had already informed the police and they just pacified her for the sake of it. They didn’t register her complaint and kept giving her false assurances.
The police have done a shoddy job of the investigation and I’m simply frustrated with their way of going about it. I believe it is the Jammu and Kashmir police that has solved the case. The Mumbai police took one whole year to solve the case and I really don’t understand why. It should have happened much earlier. I am seeking a CBI probe and action against senior inspectors of Oshiwara and Igatpuri police stations for failing to discharge their duties. And after being the complainant of the case, the police hasn’t even bothered updating me on the details.
I visited Laila’s Igatpuri farmhouse (the site where the skeletons were found) with the police in August and the police then said nothing much came out of the place. But I noticed that one of the two machines used to dig the ground were in the courtyard, which meant that certainly they had dug up and found something. But even the police didn’t reveal anything. I think it is a serious case of conspiracy. The accused in the case, Parvez Tak and Aseef Shaikh lived in the Igatpuri farmhouse when my wife and family had gone to Saudi Arabia. I think Parvez couldn’t have committed the murders without the help of some local person and that local suspect is Aseef. Why aren’t they nailing him as well? He has provided such varied and false accounts of the whole story. The first person to go inside (jail) should be him than anyone else. All I knew was that they shared a close relationship with my wife. I don’t know anything beyond that. Contrary to what is being reported, I was very much married to her till she went missing.
I am tired of running around, but every time I remember how brutally my family was murdered, it motivates me to fight for justice. Someone needs to take charge. My mother-in-law is helpless and depends on me. Even the little truth that has come forth is only due to the media. I just wish that the police provides the best help possible and speeds up the investigations. I could have easily given up and sat helpless crying in self-pity. But I didn’t choose to do that. I realised that justice was being denied and I had to do something about it. It has been painful emotionally and financially too. I have just about been able to sustain the expenses. For the last one year, I haven’t been able to concentrate on work and have been stationed in Mumbai running behind this case. But without getting justice I won’t be able to sleep. So there’s no way out as well.
As told to Ipsitaa Panigrahi