The second 'wife' with 8 month old daughter
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| India-Pakistan |
| Saga of the beheaded Indian Engineer: a second 'wife' turns up |
| 2006-05-01 |
| Adding a new twist to the tragic killing of Kasula Suryanarayana by the Taliban, a woman claiming to be his second wife surfaced on Monday. She wanted his family to accept her and support her and her eight-month-old daughter. Ahead of the arrival of the body from Delhi on Monday evening, the funeral atmosphere at Suryanarayana's house in East Anandbagh in Secunderabad gave way to bickering over access to the relief package announced by the state government and the engineer's employer. On a day of spiralling drama, Suryanarayana's first wife Manjula drank phenyl in a suicide attempt in the evening. She was taken to hospital where her condition was stated to be out of danger. And in yet another twist, the second wife, Gogula Swapna Reddy, sat on a dharna at the family's house late Monday evening and resisted attempts by the police to evict her. The unexpected turn of events began with the arrival of Swapna, 30, at the doorstep of the stricken family at 2.30 am on Monday, 20 hours after the engineer was beheaded by the Taliban in Afghanistan. She claimed that Suryanarayana had married her on Aug 31, 2002 at the Ramappa temple in Warangal. Though she did not have any documentary evidence of the marriage, Swapna displayed photographs to prove her point. She also claimed that they had an eight-monthold daughter Nitisha. She was turned away from the first family's home. Swapna, who came to the city accompanied by her mother Sarojini and brother Ravindra, spent all of Monday meeting police officials to press her claim. She met Cyberabad deputy commissioner of police (crimes) Sowmya Misra and wanted the police to ensure that she was allowed to see her husband's mortal remains when they arrived from Delhi and attend Suryanarayana's funeral slated for Tuesday. She pleaded for a DNA test to confirm her daughter's paternity. The DCP directed Swapna to approach the court for a ruling. Talking to TOI, Swapna, who is from Sitanagaram in Warangal, said she and Suryanarayana fell in love while he was working with Tata Teleservices in Warangal. She knew of his first marriage when she married him. "Suryanarayana told me that his first wife was not keeping good health. ...He said his first marriage would not came in the way and that he would take good care of me." She claimed that he would visit her in Warangal whenever he was in India. As recently as March 17, 2006, he had come to Warangal and stayed for a week before leaving for Afghanistan on March 31. He would send money to her. According to her, Suryanarayana's parents and first wife were aware of his second marriage. She, however, never visited his family in Hyderabad. "I went to his house in Hyderabad for the first time on Sunday night and asked them to accept me and my baby into their fold. They threw me out and threatened me against talking to the media," she alleged. After her day-long rounds of offices, Swapna arrived at the Suryanarayana home late Monday evening and sat on a dharna,when denied entry by the police. After repeated attempts to persuade her to leave, a policeman tried to evict her, pulling her by the leg. Despite this, she didn't budge and finally the policemen gave up. Swapna's dharna was continuing when reports last came in. Swapna said she was not expecting any share of the ex gratia payment announced by the state government and only wanted Suryanarayana's family to accept her and provide for her daughter's future. G Ravindra Reddy, Swapna's brother, said he would approach the courts for relief and may even seek a stay order on the funeral. "DNA tests should be done and my sister should be accepted as Suryanarayana's wife and be allowed to take part in the funeral," he said. Suryanarayana's first wife, Manjula, however, said her husband had never told her of Swapna and that she did not believe her husband had a second wife. Suryanarayana's nephew K Varun Santhosh, on the other hand, said Swapna barged in to their residence on Monday morning at 2.30 am and demanded Rs 5 lakh. "She showed photographs of her and my uncle. We told her that we would pay her money but asked her not to create problems till the funeral was over," he said. M Krishna, brother-in-law of Suryanarayana, said he had seen Swapna on earlier occasions. He said the family was prepared to pay her the money she might demand. |
| Posted by:john |
| #6 Phenol, known under the older name of carbolic acid. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-05-01 22:18 |
| #5 chicks dig pocket protectors |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-05-01 20:05 |
| #4 sludge: well, an engineer AND a playah. now i've seen everything. Actually, it is quite common for men in Third World countries to have mistresses/other wives. And we're not talking about filthy rich men. They're prudish about fornication (i.e. sex before/outside marriage), but prostitution and polygamy are another matter. Here, we tend to be prudish about prostitution and polygamy, but quite accepting of sex outside of marriage. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-05-01 19:31 |
| #3 well, an engineer AND a playah. now i've seen everything. |
| Posted by: sludge 2006-05-01 18:32 |
| #2 His son The second 'wife' with 8 month old daughter |
| Posted by: john 2006-05-01 18:26 |
| #1 Suryanarayana was a busy fellow.. wonder if he had a 'wife' in Afghanistan? |
| Posted by: john 2006-05-01 18:12 |