MP to examine 'intl conspiracy' in Indian woman's Pak visit

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Monday said the state police will examine the “international conspiracy” angle in the episode involving a 34-year-old Indian mother of two children who travelled to a remote village in Pakistan to marry her Facebook friend.

Anju -- who now goes by the name of Fatima after converting to Islam -- on July 25 married her 29-year-old friend Nasrullah, whose home is in the Upper Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She has also received some money and a piece of land as gifts for embracing the religion.

The two became friends on Facebook in 2019.

On Saturday, Mohsin Khan Abbasi, the chief executive officer of a real estate company based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, visited Anju and Nasrullah at their residence.

He presented Anju a cheque, the amount of which was not known, and a land document in the presence of her husband to make her feel at home in Pakistan.

Anju's father Gaya Prasad Thomas, a resident Bouna village near Tekanpur town in MP's Gwalior district, last week said she was as good as dead for her family back home.

Asked about the woman's case, Mishra on Monday told reporters, “The fact that Anju is being welcomed in Pakistan and getting gifts is raising several doubts. That's why I have directed the special branch of police to examine the case minutely, whether it is an international conspiracy or not?”

The minister said he has told the officials to keep the "conspiracy angle" in focus as the matter is related to the state's Gwalior district.

Anju's father Thomas last week said, “The way she ran away leaving her two children and husband behind...she did not even think of her children. If she wanted to do this, she should have divorced her husband first. She is no more (alive) for us.”

Asked about speculation in some quarters that there could be something more to the incident as his village is close to Tekanpur town where a major unit of the Border Security Force (BSF) is stationed, Thomas rejected the suggestion vehemently.

"No one raised any such issue with us. Only you (the media) are raising this question. My kids have no criminal tendencies. I am ready to have any probe into the matter," he said.

Thomas earlier also described his daughter as "mentally disturbed" and "eccentric".