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When Our Own Relatives Begin Conspiracy Against Family…

Jyoti Ghag for BeyondHeadlines

I was born and brought up in Mumbai, India but after my marriage in the December of year 1986, permanently shifted to the United States. Our three children, two sons and a daughter were born and brought up in US. My husband and I became naturalized US citizens around year1993. After the FBI incident in October 2009, I applied for the Overseas Citizenship of India status realizing that the protectors of my father’s murderers who happened to be high ranking government officials were concerned about being exposed and they very well could try to keep me away from entering my home country.

My father was a self-dependent man financially, physically, emotionally and mentally. I have five sisters all of whom are married. Of the five one is younger than me. I have two married younger brothers; one of my brothers, Manish actually has separated from his wife since end of 1998. Our mother died in year 1985 with massive heart attack when Paresh my other brother was around 15 years old and Manish was 16 years old.

When Our Own Relatives Begin Conspiracy Against Family…

Since then I literally became backbone of my young siblings. It was getting difficult for me to fly often to be there for my Dad and for my young siblings whenever they are in need of physical or emotional support so I decided to help them in settling down in USA with me.I brought my younger sister to US and helped her settling down here with me. Around November 1997 I also filed a petition for my Dad so he could get permanent US residency (US Green Card).

After our mother’s sudden death Paresh became close to me the way he was with our mom. My 4 older sisters were married then. I was the eldest in rest of young siblings. Dad and we four siblings became even closer to each other after our mother’s death. I moved to US after my marriage but relationship between my Dad, my siblings and me grew even stronger than ever.

It was end of the year 1997 when Paresh got engaged to be married with the girl from nice educated, cultured family. He was keen involving me in every small preparation of his wedding. My Dad too was eagerly waiting for my visit to India that had been long overdue. I flew to Mumbai with my kids around first week of January’98. Dad came to pick us up at the Mumbai airport accompanied by Paresh and my sisters. It was lot of fun to see all the siblings together at Dad’s home for Paresh’s wedding which reminded me the days we were growing up. I was so excited and happy for my brother that could hardly rest after travelling for 36 long hours to be at other end of the world.

The next day I called his fiancée to fix a time and location for Saree shopping. I was shocked to learn from her father that the wedding was off. I was more furious with the reason the girl’s father gave me for breaking up the marriage. My obvious questions were to him that “What Happened?” Why didn’t you inform my Dad about it?” Who gave you the false information?” He calmly responded, “Go ask your sister’s husband Mr. Shirke. If he wouldn’t have come forward with this information which your father hid from us, then my daughter’s life would have been destroyed”.

I didn’t realize that my Dad who was very good with reading body gesture watching me while I been on the phone with Paresh’s soon to be father-in-law. I was so upset with the situation that couldn’t hide my expression. The second I hung up the phone Dad asked me, “Jyoti, what did they say? Why do you seem so frustrated? “Is the girl coming for saree shopping tomorrow? “I did not know how to handle his questions. I was not sure how to tell him that his beloved daughter Meena’s husband Mr. Shirke had 17 misinformed them that Paresh is a mental patient and they should not let their daughter marry him.

All of us knew that our Dad’s only dream at that point was to see Paresh getting married front of his eyes and Mr. Shirke broke that dream into million pieces. I was under tremendous pressure to break the shocking news to Paresh and to Dad. I requested my eldest sister to let them know about the break off and she did that as gently as she could. Dad couldn’t deal with the situation and collapsed in his chair almost immediately after hearing the news. His then 20 years old grandson, who happened to be Mr. Shirke’s son literally picked and put him in the car and drove to Singhania Hospital, near Vartak Nagar Thane. Dad ended up being in ICU with a severe anxiety attack. He couldn’t even rest in peace after getting brought in recovery room after two days. He kept requesting me to look match for Paresh. He was determined to see Paresh getting married on the schedule date. I kept calming him down with the promise that I won’t leave India without fulfilling his wish. Meanwhile we sisters wanted to know why Mr. Shirke and his wife our own sister Meena acted like worse than our enemy.

We all wanted to know the reason behind Shirke couple’s despicable act towards Paresh. We had to wait for Dad to come home after getting fully recovered. Dad told me that around end of year 1997 he suspected Mr. Shirke abusing the power of Attorney and laundering money from my NRE Account. When Dad confronted Mr. Shirke about his illegal act instead of accepting his wrong doing he threatened Dad front of Meena with Manish Paresh’s life. Incidentally Paresh’s marriage was fixed in next couple of weeks and Shirke couple came up with this evil plan to humiliate Dad and Paresh front of entire community which put Dad in the Hospital.

What happened is, around May 1996 I noticed that Mr. Shirke was misusing my S.B./NRE Account No. 960114 which I had open with Dena Bank at the Shree Nagar Thane branch around March 1993. Mr. Shirke manipulated me with giving him the power of Attorney. After couple of months of opening the said account I changed my mind about saving my money in India but decided to keep the said account for just in case. I didn’t realise till May 1996 that Mr. Shirke was laundering his money which he was amassing illegally outside of his meagre salary as being a Mumbai police officer. He was depositing large amount of rupees in NRE account and was withdrawing money with the check from same account even when I was out of India.

When I witnessed him in my May 1996’s India trip, the spending large amount on the Diamond ring and paying large amount for the life time membership of one of the best club in Thane through my NRE account I was shocked. I was upset with Dena Bank Manager even more because he was helping Mr. Shirke with this illegal activity instead of alarming me, the Account owner about it. I visited Dena Bank after learning about their illegal activity with request of closing the said account but neither Dena Bank Manager nor Mr. Shirke allowed me to close the account in my that India trip. Instead Mr. Shirke forced me to keep quiet and I had to. I continued being quite tilled January 1998 but after learning Mr. Shirke threatening my Dad, I couldn’t keep the promise which I gave it to my dying mom. I decided telling the whole truth to my Dad about Meena and Mr. Shirke, the things which my mom tried to hide from him and unfortunately I continued getting abused in Mr. Shirke’s hand till January 1998.

Meena the only sister among us sisters was lazy, inconsiderate and always had lot of attitude growing up. She was so lazy that didn’t even complete her college degree for the reason of not able to handle the stress of waking up early to attend the collage or for studying. She always enjoyed sleeping 15/ 16 hours a day. She never liked to do any chores around home. My mom avoided having arguments with her so always left her alone and never pushed her for any house chores. When Meena used to be in mood after her 15 hours of sleep then she used to help mom in the kitchen.

I am way younger than her but still she used me like her maid even after her marriage. They were married in May 1975. I always thank god that 18 she at least agreed to go through the pain of carrying her two babies in her womb for nine months, the only job she did independently. She carried her first child in year 1976 and another one in year 1979. Soon after their marriage Mr. Shirke learned about Meena’s laziness and decided to move in with us. My two elder sisters were married when Dad was still serving as a Mumbai Police officer. After his retirement we moved from way bigger home to way tiny home in Thane.

It was very congested having both of them move in with us. Meena and Mr. Shirke lived in Police quarters at Andheri Mumbai for a while but even then they used to spend months after months at our place because once again Lazy Meena couldn’t handle the stress of house work, being pregnant and serving for her husband.

Mr. Shirke started molesting me even before their marriage so when they both almost moved in our home after their marriage I was very uncomfortable in my own home. In the beginning I was so young that couldn’t even understand the meaning of this word or his behaviour towards me. He did continue manipulating me for a while but when I turned around 13/ 14 years old I gathered the courage and started apposing him for touching me inappropriately. That’s when he started threatening me with Dad and my both younger brothers’ life knowing that they are always been my weak point. I survived the molestation till I turned around 16 years old. One day he forced me to go out with him and tried reaping me.

I literally ran out of the room, took a cab and reached home. I was shaking hysterically, couldn’t think about anything else but ending my life. I came home that evening and tried to commit a suicide. I was admitted to Dr. Tambe Hospital on Naupada road at Thane. Dr. Tambe told me after 4 days while sending me home from his Hospital that he revived my heart on admission table, if Mr. Shirke, Meena wouldn’t have brought me in on time I would have been died. Dr. Tambe was not ready to take my case but as usual Mr. Shirke then being a Mumbai Police officer managed to make him treat me without involving Thane police. Till May 1975 our home was the happy, secure place but everything changed slowly. My mom made us tolerate having Meena and Mr. Shirke in our home even them having their place in Andheri and after close to Thane at Kanamwar Nager Police Quarters Vikroli, Mumbai. Off, course my mom was unaware of the fact that Meena was married to child abuser.

I came home from Dr. Tambe’s hospital and disclosed everything to mom and to my elder sisters about Mr. Shirke. I learned from them that they already were suspecting Mr. Shirke doing something wrong with me but they were not sure how to confirm and confront. Mom decided not to tell Dad yet and try to handle the situation with help of these elder sisters who are also elder to Meena. Three of them confronted Meena about Mr. Shirke’s behaviour. They asked her to pack their stuff and move out of Dad’s home which she refused to do saying that her husband is innocent and I am the one who is making up stories. My sisters asked mom to get Dad involve but knowing Dad’s temper and Meena’s attitude she decided to get things cool down before letting Dad know. Mysteriously within couple of months after that confrontation, my mom had massive heart attack which she survived for 7 weeks but had second Heart attack on 20th October 1985 which she couldn’t survive.

Mom never could tell Dad about Mr. Shirke. After learning about Meena’s role in Dad’s murder and in putting innocent, abused younger brother in Thane Jail I started thinking about mom’s dying wish, the timing and situation around her sudden death at age 55. I won’t be surprised with the thought of Meena threatening mom too with Dad and our young siblings’ life. After mom’s death I was married within couple of years and moved to USA. I wanted to tell my husband and Dad about Mr. Shirke but was not sure how would they both react. Years past but I still was looking for right time to tell the important men in my life about the black episode of my life. I got that opportunity when Mr. Shirke was caught by Dad.

Around end of year 1997 when Dad caught Mr. Shirke laundering his money through my account, Dad 19 didn’t know that I was aware of his illegal activities through my account. Dad was concerned with my husband finding it out about Mr. Shirke misusing my bank account for his illegal act. He didn’t want either of his son in laws have argument or fights over this issue. Dad confronted Mr. Shirke about his money laundering activity in presence of Meena. He asked Mr. Shirke to stop using my account. He became very angry and threatened my Dad with destroying Manish, Paresh and his life.

I was very upset when Dad told me about Mr. Shirke’s threat. He crossed the line of inhumanity and pushed me to retaliate against him. I couldn’t let him destroy my Dad or brothers. I told Dad and my husband about the molestation. I also informed Mr. Shirke about truly coming out of his control by letting Dad and my husband know about every threat and the situation he continued putting me through in the past. I felt so much better after unloading years of burden from my heart and soul.

Mr. Shirke and I learned the rules and regulations of Reserve Bank of India while opening NRE account at Dena Bank. My understanding as per the government regulations was that an NRE Account can be operated for the withdrawal by Power of attorney holder with account holder’s signed check but deposits can only be made in foreign currency by account holder. It can be done in one of two ways, either the account holder can transfer foreign currency through electronic banking or the account holder can personally deposit foreign currency with a valid proof of entry in the country on the passport. Even if person need to exchange foreign currency from any other Government controlled agency then he or she needs to show the passport copy and endorsement of the date of entry in the country.

When I relearned from my Dad around January 1998 about Mr. Shirke’s continued money laundering activity through my said account, I attempted to dissolve the power of attorney and try to get the copies of Bank transaction of my NRE account from Dena Bank. Mr. Shirke and Dena Bank managers refused to give me any documents and any transaction records. I had to make couple of trips to India and finally had to involve a local politician instead of local police into closing the said account and to getting transaction record from Dena Bank Shree Nagar Thane branch. The bank officials provided me the bank transaction between March 1995 and March 1999 and couldn’t recover the records of bank transaction between March 1993 and February 1995. Interestingly Dena Bank officials refused me the copies of bank transaction in the particular time frame in which Mr. Shirke was serving at International airport of Mumbai as an in charge Police Inspector.

The bank statements clearly indicate withdrawals and personal deposits in my NRE account on various dates when I was not present in India on the said dates. Electronic transfer was not an option in those years. Comparison of the aforesaid two documents i.e. bank statement and the passport clearly indicated that Mr. Shirke had wrongfully and illegally operated my NRE bank account for diverting his wrongfully and illegally procured money for converting it into legal money. Interestingly in spite of the aforesaid fact being brought to the notice of the authorities time and again, no cognizance has been taken and contrary to records the Authority official from Dena Bank Head Quarter has issued a letter dated 3rd May, 2010 to Reserve Bank of India stating that the allegations made by me are not correct. 20

(The writer, Jyoti Ghag, daughter of second World War veteran & retired (1974) Mumbai Police Officer.)

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