I want to go out and lead a normal life, away from the media and public glare.” This is what Priyanka Todi, daughter of city businessman Ashok Todi, told a 10-member delegation of the State Women’s Commission which met her at her residence on Tuesday. The members, led by chairperson Jashodhara Bagchi, were closeted with Priyanka for an hour.

“We met her and asked her if she needed any help from us. She pleaded with us and that she wanted to move out and go back to her normal life. She looked distressed and traumatised. From the few words that she said about Rizwanur it appeared she was deeply in love with her husband,” Bagchi said at the office of the State Women’s Commission.

The members said Priyanka did not seem to have been able to reconcile to the fact that Rizwanur was no more. “She wanted to go back to her husband. She said that she got the news of Rizwanur’s death at Tirupati where she went along with her family. It was her father Ashok Todi who gave her the news of Rizwanur’s death. Now, she said there was no point in going back as Rizwanur was no more and the situation had become too complicated,” Gairika Ghosh, another commission member told The Indian Express. “Priyanka said she married Rizwanur without the consent of her parents because she thought they would approve of it later,” Ghosh said.

The members said she and Rizwanur were summoned to the police station twice. “She said the police were nice to her. They asked her why she had left her parents’ house without informing them. They also told her to go and meet her parents,” commission member Uma Basu told The Indian Express.

... contd.