My life has become living hell: Pooja Naik

My life has become living hell: Pooja Naik
Preetu Nair, TNN

PANAJI: Pooja Naik's world collapsed when her husband was arrested in the last week of April for raping her friend. Since then she has learnt that her husband, Mahanand, has confessed to killing 9 women.

As if that weren't enough, Pooja claims she and her 18 month old daughter have been "socially ostracized" by the villagers of Shiroda for no fault of theirs.

"Some people have said they would kill me and my daughter with a dupatta, in the same way my husband killed other women. I am scared. Why am I and my daughter being punished for my husband's sins? No one can ever understand my pain and suffering. Our lives have become a living hell," said Pooja.

An angry mob recently set alight their home in Shiroda, and marched to Ponda police station demanding Pooja's arrest. From then on, Pooja has been seeking refuge at a friend's place or at her parent's home in Sanvordem, as some homes for women, fearing a public blacklash, have refused to shelter her.

On Monday afternoon, Pooja was at the Panaji police station seeking rehabilitation and was sent to a safe destination with the help of the NGO Bailancho Ekvott. "I'm scared of being recognized. The pressure is killing me and I feel suicidal at times," she said.

"I never thought that my husband could kill women. Which wife will suspect her loving and kind husband of murder? In the last 11 years of marriage, I had no reason to suspect him," said Pooja. She now believes otherwise.

"I met him (Mahanand) in jail recently and asked him if he had committed the murders or if he was being framed. For the first time in our relationship, he didn't reply and sat for minutes together with his head bent, even as I repeated the question," said Pooja, who works as a clerk in a central government organization.

"It was then that my world collapsed. I wondered whether he was the same person who had never even lifted his hand against me and would pack my lunch tiffin daily," she said.

Pooja and Mahanand were married in 1998. Theirs was an arranged marriage. "A cousin had married Mahanand's relative and she was happy. When Mahanand proposed, everyone agreed. I was happy because he worked as an autorickshaw driver and didn't drink," recollects Pooja, who comes from a lower middle income family from Sanvordem. The couple had a daughter 10 years later.

Mahanand's first alleged murder was in 1994 and he has confessed to killing eight other women during the last 15 years. Police believe there could be a dozen more. However, they maintain there is no evidence to suspect Pooja's involvement in any of the alleged murders.

Incidentally, the Ponda police on Monday recorded Pooja's statement with regard to the killing of nine women by her husband. She has revealed that Mahanand was well-off despite being unemployed, the police said. Pooja has neither been detained nor arrested.

"As the case stands today, there is no evidence of his wife's involvement in the murders," said deputy superintendent of police (Ponda) Serafin Dias.

But people are not willing to listen. "People look at me with suspicion. They feel that I supported my husband in his crimes. My fault is that I didn't distrust him. He was jobless. Occasionally he brought home money. When I questioned him he would say that he had taken up painting work or borrowed money from his mother. I had no reason to doubt him," she added.

Another woman reported missing
PONDA: Another case of a missing woman has been registered with the Ponda police on Monday against Mahanand Naik, the alleged 40-year-old dupatta killer' from Shiroda.

Ponda police inspector C L said that Nirmal Satarkar has registered a complaint that her sister, Bhagi Fondu Satarkar, 30, has been missing from Bhootkhamb Keri in Ponda since the year 2004.

As per the complaint, the 30-year-old woman had left her home in 2004 with jewellery which included golden bangles, a necklace, two earrings and a chain.

19 May 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition