Aarti of Kyunki threatened

Aarti of Kyunki threatened by a mysterious caller

Rushali hounded by a mysterious caller; says the Versova police did little to help

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Rushali

TV actress Rushali, who was seen as Gautam's adopted mother Aarti (Sumeet Sachdev) on Star Plus's popular soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, is being hounded by calls from a mysterious man.

Rushali says, "Three or four years ago, I received a call for work from an ad agency. Thinking it was the ad agency that belonged to Prahlad Kakkar, I went to their Malad office to check out the assignments they had for me. I asked the people there if the agency belonged to Prahlad. They didn't deny it and said it was a sister concern. They also told me that they had an ad for me and took me for a meeting with their 'client'. There they showed me blueprints of the 'ad', and it looked like the product I was to promote was a machine. 'What was I to do in an ad for machines?' was my initial reaction, and I decided against doing the ad. I couldn't even confirm if that agency was really a sister concern of Prahlad Kakkar's.

I kept getting calls from a man at the agency who said his name was Anil Kumar Shrivastava. He kept saying 'You are like my younger sister'. After a few days his calls started getting nasty and abusive. He went on… 'Why are you acting pricey? Who do you think you are? Come down and I will show you your value. Everyone in this industry compromises, so if you don't do the ad, there are 10,000 others waiting for it.' He used to be so abusive and cheap, that I can't even tell you all he said.'

"These calls stopped for some time, until they resumed six months ago. This time the caller (who called himself Rinku or Tinku, I couldn't tell) said that my life was in danger as someone was trying to harm me, and that it was his duty to warn me.'

"Almost a month ago I got call from the man whose voice resembled that of Anil Kumar Shrivastava. I immediately recognised the voice. I do not forget voices easily. But I have recorded the numbers he calls from and also his voice. He said 'Hum aapke sammruddhi ki kaamna karte hain, aap hamesha sukhi aur santhusht rahein' (I pray for your prosperity, happiness and well-being).' He makes it a point to call me at least once in three days and speaks in pure Hindi. The problem is that he keeps calling me from different numbers every time. I cannot identify the numbers, and end up taking his calls. On Sunday my husband Bobby Arora blasted him, saying that if he called again his bones would be broken. Since then he hasn't called."

Rushali thought of lodging a complaint with the police. "When I went to Versova police station three months ago they told me that the recent caller was not the one threatening me. The most they'd do was reprimand the caller and warn him not to call again," Rushali says.

"I have gone through a lot since then, and I have had enough of this mental upset. There is also the fear of physical torture. I have been too afraid to go out alone." she concludes.