'I just want to return to Pune and finish my course'

"This whole incident is very humiliating for me. I want to come back to Pune and carry on with my studies," said Neetu Singh, the 32-year-old FTII student who was deported by the Pune police to her country, Nepal, for her alleged Maoist links. "Since I came back (to Nepal), I have been under a lot of stress. I am at my parents' home, so I am safe. But this is a border area, so we cannot say what may happen here. After I came back here on December 6, we tried to contact Amresh Singh [Neetu's husband], but we couldn't. Later, when my parents were at work, Amresh tried to contact me but I was angry, so I did not talk to him."

An upset Singh continued: "On Friday Amresh called my father and threatened him. Since the last few days, I have not been keeping well, and we are in no mental state to pursue the matter with the government here. Our priority is to try to talk to a lawyer who will guide me in getting a divorce."

According to Neetu, "it is quite clear that Amresh is fuelling this conspiracy. I want to go back to Pune. When I came here (to Nepal), they took away all my official documents…even my passport. I just want to live a normal life and continue my studies. I know that my friends are supporting me in Pune, I am very grateful to them."

Meanwhile, Maharashtra minister of state for home Ramesh Bagwe on Saturday gave a clean chit to the Pune police for deporting Singh, a final-year student of FTII.

According to Bagwe, the Pune police alone couldn't have decided on Neetu's deportation. "The police department was in touch with security agencies and she was deported as it was emerging to be a national security issue," he told DNA, adding that Neetu has been on the police's watch-list for the last few months.

Interestingly, the decision of the Pune police to deport Singh had drawn sharp reactions from the Centre, with the Union home ministry describing the act as one of "gross police high-handedness". The ministry had also sought a detailed report in this regard.

The police, however, claimed that Neetu had cross-border links with a front organisation of the Maoists, and had received specific inputs from the Research and Analysis Wing.

Maharashtra president of the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) Kiran Moghe, who received a letter by Neetu about the deportation, said she was in Mumbai to meet home minister RR Patil, to ask him to allow Singh to return to India so that she can complete her course.

In the light of the Centre lambasting state authorities over the deportation of Singh, officials of the state Criminal Investigation Department visited the FTII campus on Saturday. Sources at FTII said the visiting officials have taken with them a list of all foreign students studying at the institute. "They have taken a list of names of all foreign students, where they have come from and when they took admission at the institute," an official said. However additional director general (CID), SPS Yadav, denied that a team had visited FTII.

Meanwhile, Neetu's parents on Saturday said the government was not looking into the matter enough. Sources at FTII also pointed out that certain property-related issues were responsible for the relationship between Neetu and Amresh turning sour.

"The home ministry in Nepal has been intimated about Neetu's case, but we have not heard from them. For the first 10 days or so after Neetu was brought home, she was kept virtually under house arrest. However, now there are no police officials in the immediate vicinity of our house," said Nagina Singha, Neetu's mother, in a telephone interview from Jhapa, near Kathmandu, where the family lives.

In a recent letter that Nagina had written to FTII director Pankaj Raj, she alleged that "Amresh Singh [is] using his power and money in Nepal, as well as in India, to frame Neetu…this shows his narrow mindedness… In the past, he also threatened to kill Neetu…he kept feeding us wrong information about her character".

Speaking to DNA, FTII director Pankaj Raj said: "Neetu's mother also alleged in the letter that she sent on December 21 that their phone and mobile conversations were being tapped, and their laptop was being tracked by Amresh." Raj added: "As part of the ongoing investigations, a police official claiming to be from the home ministry visited our campus on Thursday to inquire about Neetu."

Kedar Awati, Dean of FTII, said that in the last few days, Neetu had contacted him as she was depressed after the deportation. Awati said: "She said she was feeling very lonely at home."