Chrisann Pereira case: Wife of another prisoner in Sharjah hopeful after release of actor

Falyn said she was acquainted with Anthony as he was the boyfriend of a colleague from an earlier workplace. She said Anthony was introduced to them in 2018, and she and Clayton had once visited a farmhouse in Vajeshwari, which Anthony claimed belonged to him.

“There, his girlfriend’s son, who saw Clayton for the first time, remarked that Clayton looked like his father who had passed away a few years ago. His father happened to be a relative of Anthony. This remark somehow did not go down well with Anthony, who mentioned it four to five times in the trip and seemed upset about it throughout,” said Falyn.

She said after the trip, the couples remained in touch and the Rodrigues assumed that things were fine between them.

She said in January this year, out of the blue, Clayton got a call from a person who identified himself as Prasad Rao, who offered him a gig in Dubai. When Rao met Clayton, he handed him a cake as a ‘goodwill gesture’. “This was their way of introducing the cake as a prop,” said Falyn.

Falyn said throughout the meeting, Rao had his ear plugs on. Falyn now suspects that he was connected to Anthony, who may have been giving him instructions on how to go about the meeting.

After the meeting, Clayton was scheduled to fly to Sharjah on February 6, a day after their daughter’s communion, where Anthony was among those present. “Anthony, his girlfriend and her son left by around 10 pm. A few minutes later, his girlfriend called up, saying Anthony had forgotten his wallet in the bathroom and they would collect it the next day. When I went to the bathroom, his wallet seemed intentionally hidden over the detergent box,” said Falyn. “This was his excuse to come home the next day….,” said Falyn.

The next day, when Anthony’s girlfriend called about the wallet, Falyn said she would send a helper to hand over the wallet. “They (Anthony and his girlfriend), however, insisted on coming home as they said Anthony had to go for a meeting to Sahara Star, which was delayed apparently,” she said.

“Around this time, I received a message from an unknown number about Clayton having been arrested with drugs in Sharjah. They were present in a cake that Rao had given him to take to Sharjah,” she said.

She added, “At this point, Anthony said he had contacts in Sharjah and also showed me the purported number of (Shiv Sena UBT MLA) Aaditya Thackeray on his phone”.

According to Falyn, Anthony told her it was a matter of life and death and they would have to pay Rs 80 lakh to get Clayton released. “When we said we cannot pay that much, he brought the amount down to Rs 10-15 lakh. However, when my relatives asked him who his contacts were, he refused to reveal any of them and eventually backed off”.

“While his behaviour seemed odd, I didn’t think Anthony was involved… his involvement came to light only after the police arrested him (in connection with the Chrisann Pereira case),” she said.

Falyn added, “When I received the message that Clayton had been arrested, my nine-year-old daughter and I were crying. Anthony knew that we also take care of my father-in-law, who is paralysed and bed-ridden. In spite of that, the fact that he did not think twice about destroying our family is inhuman.”

“The culprits have been arrested and I really hope that Clayton is released soon, as I have been talking to him and know how hard every single day has been for us,” said Falyn.

Meanwhile, an officer from Mumbai Crime Branch said police are also in the process of trying to get Clayton released from prison and get him back to India.