CHANDIGARH: This is a love story where the honeymoon is over even before the couple actually went on one. Former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chand Mohammed aka Chander Mohan is in the thick of controversy again with his new wife Fiza aka Anuradha Bali accusing him of betrayal and blackmail yesterday.
Fiza told reporters here that she feared for her life and was being sent threats through close associates. “I don’t even know if I will be alive tomorrow to say these things before you all,” she said.
Bali and Chander Mohan, the elder son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, had secretly converted to Islam in November 2008. They surfaced as husband and wife in December.
Chander got a new name, religion and wife but lost his high-profile job as deputy chief minister due to the controversy surrounding his second marriage, which is already on the rocks.
The saga came into the limelight again last week when he suddenly left Fiza’s house where he has been staying for the last two months. Fiza claimed that Chand had been kidnapped by his brother Kuldip Bishnoi but he surfaced in Delhi and later in Gurgaon, where he claimed that he had come on his own and had not been kidnapped.
Since then, Chand has stayed away from his second wife. “I don’t know what my status is today. I don’t even know if I am his wife or not. He (Chand) is not coming out openly to tell,” Fiza said.
Fiza listed and read out several SMSes purportedly sent to her by Chand expressing his love for her and asking her to marry her. The messages claimed that he would kill himself if she did not agree.
“He used to send me messages for the last three years. He used to blackmail me that he will kill himself if I did not marry him. He threatened to shoot himself. I have been betrayed in true love. He has not spoken to me directly. I don’t even know whether he is now Chander Mohan or Chand Mohammed. A very bad game has been played with my life,” she said.
But Fiza has vowed not to take things lying down, saying that she would seek revenge for the betrayal thrust on her. “He was shown saying that I am a ‘badiya cheez’ (good thing). Am I a vegetable, cold drink or lassi that he said so? I have been used,” she claimed.
When asked whether she would press rape charges against Chand, she said: “I cannot say anything at this stage.”
Fiza, a divorcee, said that she had not embraced Islam to get married to the already married Chand Mohammed. “I respect all religions but I will remain a Muslim now,” she said.
Fiza refuted allegations that she was in possession of some CD with which she had blackmailed Chand to marry him. “I have lost everything in this, why would I blackmail him?” she asked.
