31 May,2010 09:24 AM IST | | Kaumudi Gurjar
Life has been hell for Colonel Usman Shaikh (Retd) and his wife Bilkis these past few years. The NIBM Road residents say they have been at the receiving end of threatening and abusive text messages from their son-in-law, who even attacked the retired colonel last month.
The colonel said his son-in-law Hanif Bakhtiyar Shaikh, who is chief financial officer at Talab construction company, sent him 64 offending text messages before he attacked him on April 6.
"Mr Usman take ur daughter today itself. I amn't interested in her, entire world knows ur family's qualities. I am going to eliminate Zakir," read one of the SMSes.
Hanif got married to the colonel's daughter in December 1995, and the couple has three children. Usman Shaikh said everything was normal till 2005, when the colonel's son booked a flat in Kumar Suraksha for him and Bilkis. After that, the son-in-law started demanding Rs 50 lakh to buy a flat in Aundh.
For the colonel, who has fought in the China and Pakistan wars, facing the enemy on the border was less difficult than his son-in-law.u00a0
"He made life hell for us for almost three years with repeated demands of Rs 50 lakh, saying he would eliminate me and my sons if I did not do so," said the retired colonel, showing the 64 abusive SMSes sent by Hanif.
Col Shaikh also said Hanif had made an attempt to enter their house twice in 2006, forcing them to appeal to society authorities to ban his entry on society premises.
"On April 6, he said he wanted to meet Mr Ismail staying in No. 604 as an excuse to enter the building and assaulted me," said Col Shaikh. "Hanif barged into my house and caught me by the neck, trying to strangle me, and hit me in the stomach."
The retired colonel filed a police complaint after the incident. The Kondhwa police are yet to arrest Hanif for the incident even though they have booked him under several sections of the IPC.
PI M K Thosar said, "We have registered a complaint against Hanif Shaikh, and initial investigations reveal he used four SIM cards to send abusive and obscene SMSes to his in-laws, demanding money to purchase a flat."
