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Journalism of Courage
Repair work at the gutted Best Bakery premises came to a standstill on Monday after the disappearance of Yasminbano, the first wife of Nafitullah and sister-in-law of Zaheera Sheikh.
For the last three days, the bakery witnessed a lot of activity as a battery of 10 masons and labourers were busy plastering walls, fitting doors and rebuilding portions of walls that had collapsed.
On Monday, Yasminbano and her mother Rashidabibi’s absence was conspicuous. None of the labourers and masons were anywhere in sight. Even the two-room house opposite the bakery, where the duo lived for the last few days was locked.
Several neighbours expressed ignorance about their whereabouts saying that it was impossible to keep a 24-hour watch. Commissioner of Police Sudhir Sinha said that the police had no idea about Yasminbano’s disappearance as what she was doing at the bakery was a civil matter and outside the jurisdiction of the police. Moreover, no complaint had so far been made with the police in this connection, he stated.
When repairs at the bakery were in the limelight, Yasminbano had claimed that she had undertaken the work with the permission of her husband though the two of them had not kept in touch for the last 18 months. She claimed to have had a telephonic communication with Nafitullah on September 14, when he expressed his desire to accommodate her in the bakery building after getting it repaired. That was why she started repair work after procuring a loan of Rs 6,000 from her relatives, she had stated. But Yasminbano’s assertions were promptly denied by Nafitullah and he told mediapersons that she was lying and it was nothing but a ‘conspiracy to grab the property’. Nafitullah also threatened to initiate legal action against Yasminbano if she did not stop work immediately. He also said that he did not intend to live with Yasminbano at all.
Both Nafitullah and his second wife Heena (formerly Kailashben) alleged that Yasminbano was being helped by BJP legislator Madhu Srivastava and his brother Chandrakant Srivastava. But Chandrakant denied the charge. The legislator took a flight to the US on Saturday after which speculations are rife that he may have left the country to avoid fresh criticism.
Earlier, he had been charged with issuing threats which forced Zaheera to retract her statements in court due to which the case fell, resulting in acquittal of the accused.
