Anju's Ottawa sister wants to give her statement

Anju's Ottawa sister wants to give her statement
SONAL MANCHANDA

NEW DELHI, MARCH 8: Anju Illiyasi's eldest sister Rashmi Singh has contacted the local Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) to give a statement. Anju, wife of TV producer and anchor Suhaib Illiyasi, had committed suicide by stabbing herself at their residence in IFS Apartments, Mayur Vihar, on the night of January 11. The SDM's inquest into her death is still not over. Rashmi lives in Ottawa in Canada where she runs a kindergarten school. She had spoken to Anju on the night of her death. Rita, another sister who lives in the US, had called up Rashmi to tell them that the couple had had a fight and she should try and pacify Anju. Rukma Singh, their mother, was with Rashmi at the time.

Sources sais, Rukma Singh had spoken to SDM Ravi Dadhich almost a fortnight ago in this regard. ``She had called up the SDM and informed her that Rashmi was in India and that she wanted to give her statement. After the telephone conversation, the mother-daughter duo met him and apparently discussed the modalities about giving the statement,'' sources said.

Rashmi has apparently explained her reasons for the delay to the SDM and both she and her mother assured him that they would submit their statement in the next couple of days. The statement could prove to be a crucial piece of evidence. In case Rashmi has something to say that indicate her sister was driven to suicide, then the police would press the charge of `abetment to suicide'. So far, her family has maintained that they do not hold anybody responsible for her suicide.

Rashmi's statement is important as she was close to Anju and the sisters had spent most of 1998 together. This was a troubled period in Anju's relationship with her husband (as was revealed by the jottings in her diary). She had stayed away from him for almost a year. The notes in her diary, which is a sporadic account of her life during the past two years, had revealed that she had felt neglected and thought that her husband was more interested in making money than spending time with her and their daughter.

The diary had also revealed that she had contemplated suicide at least on one other occasion as she felt everybody considered her `demanding'. It was on March 9, 1999 that she had penned in her diary that she wanted to commit suicide but it was the thought of her daughter, two-and-a-half-year old daughter Aliya, that stopped her.

Refusing to comment, SDM Ravi Dadhich said: ``The inquest is still in progress and I cannot say anything in this regard. All I can say is that it will be completed soon.''

While Rashmi could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, her brother -- Prashant -- said that it was a routine matter and his sister had met the SDM to give her statement as had everybody else in the family.