"Anju had informed my son-in-law that she was going to Jaipur to meet her friend," said Gaya Prasad, whose daughter Anju fled to Pakistan allegedly to meet her lover.
Thirty five-year-old Anju, who hails from Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior and had been living with her husband Arvind Meena in Rajasthan's Bhiwadi, had befriended a man named Nasrullah from Pakistan on Facebook and is said to have fallen in love with him.
The police said on Sunday, 23 July, that she fled from her home and went to Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on 21 July.
"I didn't know about this. My son told me that his sister has gone to Lahore," Prasad, who has five daughters and a son, told The Quint.
While Anju was born in Gwalior, she lived with her maternal uncle in Uttar Pradesh's Jalaun since the age of three, and then in Bhiwadi with her husband.
"I married her off to my son-in-law in Bhiwadi around 20 years ago. We don't keep contact with her, she is mentally disturbed," Prasad added.
Upon reaching Pakistan, Anju was initially taken into custody by the police. However, she was let go later when it was found that all her documents were in order.
"She (Anju) was allowed to go after all the travel documents were found to be in order. They (Anju and Nasrullah) were provided security to ensure no untoward incident takes place which can bring a bad name to the country," news agency PTI reported, quoting a source.
However, Nasrullah dismissed reports that she had gone to Pakistan to marry him.
"Anju is on a visit to Pakistan and we have no plan to marry. She will go back to her country on 20 August after her visa expires," he told PTI.
This case has a striking resemblance to that of Seema Haidar's, a Pakistani mother of four who had fled to India to be with her lover Sachin Meena – whom she got to know while playing PUBG in 2019.
(With inputs from Vishnukant Tiwari, Amit Gaur and PTI.)