On August 11, four persons claiming to be underworld don Chhota Rajan's men barged into her flat threatening her younger son, Biju John with murder. Armed with four revolvers, they demanded they be paid Rs four crore within 24 hours.

Since then, she's been threatened with calls, mostly by a man named Rakesh, to pay up. (One of Chhota Rajan's men in Mumbai is Rakesh Mishra, but the man who called Mary John only speaks as Rakesh). It was after she confided in a local activist, Mohan Krishnan, who wrote to the police top brass, including the joint commissioner of police, that the calls stopped.

But her troubles only seem to multiply. On August 31, she got a call at around 12 noon from aperson claiming to be Prahlad Ahire, informing her that her son, Rajiv had sent word from Arthur Road jail that she should send Rs 20,000 in jail to save his life. ``He has asked for Rs 5,000 immediately. John ko jail me bahut takleef hai,'' he told Mary John.

She also then revealed to Krishnan that Rajiv had told her once, when she went to meet him in jail, that she should arrange for some money for his protection in jail. This reporter was witness to the phone call from `Ahire.' When Krishnan took the phone from Mary, and represented himself as her relative, `Ahire' told him Mary should pass on the money when she goes to meet John in jail. When Krishnan requested him to leave his number, `Ahire' hung up.

Rajiv John is in custody for allegedly cheating investors of his company. Express Newsline had reported on June 13, 1998 that several investors had invested huge amounts and aren't too keen on contacting police to get their dues back.

At the root of the problem is Rajiv John's inabilityto pay back his investors, a sum totalling Rs 16-21 crore, though he had assets in Mumbai and Goa. Nobody knows the legal title of his assets, and John is now easy prey to criminal arm-twisting.

DCP Anant Shinde of EOW said police were still in the process of ascertaining ownership of Rajiv's assets.

Rajiv's brother Biju John too left home on August 11 and was incommunicado for some days. He now calls his mother every two days from a destination Mary's afraid to reveal.

She lives with a double lock in her main door and has installed a closed-circuit TV system. In fact, on August 15, when Krishnan visited her for the first time, doors were slammed on him in the building when he asked about the floor on which she lives.

Apparently, John has also informed the court about his assets and how he had parted with them, though DCP Shinde denied any knowledge of this. The question that remains now is who are his tormentors and what is their connection.