Oct 7, 2008
First Day
It was a usual sunny Sunday in July in Kuwait with temperature soaring at 50 degrees as is normal in this part of the world. As usual I attended my office, serving the customers, my job being to take care of money exchange transactions. I always took pride of the fact that my hard work of past ten years was always appreciated by my management which had brought me to the senior level in my place of work.
At 1915 hours, it was like a sudden call. Two people (later I found them to be CIDs), entered my office and asked for Shantha - that's me. Then they asked me for my Id card and told me to follow them. I refused. The manager of the office then intervened and asked them, 'why are you taking her?' At the same time, he called the general manager of our organization. Then the manager asked me, 'Shantha, did you take any money?' to which I replied in the negative. Meanwhile the CIDs were shouting at me to come out with them and that I would know everything once I was in the police station and once their officer interrogated me. At this moment I was already under their custody, and meanwhile our manager asked, 'Where are you taking her?' and they gave the station name. All along having no clue of what was happening I just said: GOD PLEASE HELP ME, I HAVE TRUST IN YOU. As I prayed the special spirit of our lord came into me and I was no more scared.
Once in the police station, they took everything whatever I had in my possession, and threw me inside the locker room. At this moment I was tensed and worried for my husband and two kids, but continued my prayer. There were ten girls in the same room and they asked me, 'Madam, why are you inside?' and I said, ' I DO NOT KNOW.' And I really did not know. Around 2100 hours our office mandoop (PRO) came and told me, 'Within two hours you will be out.' That is the last sensible sentence I heard in the next five days.
Second Day
Early morning my husband and mandoop came to meet me after I had spent a sleepless night, only keeping faith in our Lord. They said to me, 'Do you know why you are inside? You committed a big banking fraud.' I was SHOCKED. I told them I never did anything like that. After two hours, my husband came to me again and asked if I had taken any money, or robbed the exchange. I was stunned. I told him, 'What are you talking about, have you gone mad, do you have no trust in me, after being together for ten years? I asked him to go from there, and tell everyone to pray for me and gave him names of two nuns who are very close to me.
Then they were searching for Wasta to remove me out. But nothing worked out. Then I got the message that I need to be ready to go to the High Court. I was ready for that. That afternoon around 1630 hours, the CID brought a Pakistani man and asked me if I knew him. I said, 'No.' They told me that I have been accused of robbing his money. This was a big jolt for me - here was a man I was seeing for the first time - and accused of robbing him??? In spite of my repeated denials the CID threatened me with five years of imprisonment and deportation if I 'did not return the money' - the money I did not know anything about.
I was praying, 'Jesus, you know what is right and what is wrong, please help me. I am here for no reason, and if you are there with me, within three days, bring out the truth and arrest the real culprit, since I know that there is no one above you.' As I was praying, other girls in the cell were looking at me, and they said, 'Madam you have two kids, so just give the money and go out.' I told them, 'NO, I want justice and my justice I will get from God. I have full faith in Him.'
At that time, as I was trying to pass the message of my so-called crime to my husband, my close relative came to the cell and informed me that I had three similar cases against me and it was such a big crime no wasta can be made for this case. 'Even your sponsor, who is so powerful and respects you cannot assist and your husband is helpless to do any thing else. Since this case is so huge with international dimensions, no one can assist and even the company that you work for has said they cannot do any thing further,' he said. I was stunned. I told him to tell every one in Kuwait and in Mangalore to pray for me and then I went to the toilet and cried for the first time, and remembered my kids. Then I asked our Lord, 'Why are you testing me, what wrong have I done? In the name of God, whoever I hate, I hate no more, and whoever is my enemy I will forgive.'
Third Day
In the morning around 0900 hours they took me to the CID office. Around 15-20 officers were present and I was standing in front of them while they started their investigation. They removed the file and asked me how I removed the money. I answered, 'Sir, I did not remove any person's money.' They slapped me and said, 'You took the money and sent it to India.' Again I said 'NO.' My indignation made them mad, and they pulled my hair and slapped me again. Somehow I was not scared. Now they brought two people who complained against me, a Pakistani and an Egyptian. They said that some amount of money has been transferred from their accounts to the account of Ms Shantha. Then they showed me the bank statement, and to my amazement, it clearly showed money being transferred to my account. I could only say that I was totally innocent and had no idea how it happened.
Then they asked me who was doing the KNET, for which I replied that it was the manager, and explained the procedure also. They made me to explain A to Z of our work procedure. An Indian man (driver of CID vehicle) asked me to accept my 'guilt' and to tell the truth. I told him, 'Brother, what I have said is the truth. Even I want to know who used my name to transfer the money, use my account number and civil id. Whoever it is, will come in front of me in three days and I have full faith in our Lord.'
I continued my prayers. The officers told me that if I did not admit my crime, they would do all kinds of nasty things and my repution would be spoiled in Kuwait and in India. I only told them 'No problem, God is there'. That was when I actually realized I was accused of doing something BIG, as big as murder or trading drugs.
They put me in the dark room, and alone behind the bars, I closed my eyes and started praying, I could see the brightness and visualize the face of Jesus, savior, I said, please help me Lord. They do not know what they are doing. I felt a special spirit inside me and then I heard the voice of our manager like an angel speaking to the CID officer for my room was next to their room. They brought me out of the dark room and the Egyptian man was still there. The manager was explaining how the KNET transaction is done in the exchange. Then the CID said, may be Shantha knew the pin number and used it. I was surprised at the accusation. They questioned me as to whether I had given my pin number to anyone and I said yes, I had given it to our cashier as is given by everybody else so as to get the salary transfer information to my mobile. They checked my mobile to determine the accuracy of that information. They still did not believe me and again threatened me of being jailed and deported.
That night when my husband came, I told him everything. He said, 'We are all praying for you and even the kids are praying for you, so you will be out soon. In fact, church prayers are going on to get hold of the real culprit. That night as I saw everyone sleeping, I could not sleep and hence I continued by prayers.
Fourth day
That day started early. I could neither eat nor sleep for the last four days. Later the CID came and asked for me. They asked me details about the cashier and took his phone number from me.
After two hours, they brought a man to the cell, and asked me if he was the cashier, and I said no. Then they asked me if I knew the house location, again I said no. They asked me if I wanted to go home, and with full spirit I said yes. Then they left.
At night around 2345 hours they called me and I was afraid for the first time. Even the other girls were worried that I was being taken out at midnight. I prayed fervently. They took me to the CID office, and where I saw the cashier with another Pakistani man. I could not believe that they had finally arrested the right man. I closed my eyes and thanked our Lord.
The officer told me, 'Madam, if you want to do anything to this man, you can do so, you can even slap him. I said, 'No, God is there and He will punish him.' But I did the cashier, 'Why did you do this? You know I am a lady with two small kids, and I am here for the past five days. I know that you were always greedy, but why did you use my account and pin numbers?' All he said was 'sorry' when the CID slapped him. However I started praising the glory of our Lord.
At that point, the cashier was tied in chains. I asked the CID who the other Pakistani man was, and he replied that he too was a victim like me. The Pakistani man said that the cashier also used his account to dupe some person of more than KD 8000 in the last one month. I realized that he too was in jail for a day.
They were working together in the new company, and two days back, he saw the cashier very upset. He was telling the other guy that he wanted to go to Pakistan for good as he was upset. The reason was that he knew of my arrest and wanted to flee, but luckily he could not go to Pakistan.
Once the CID realized that the cashier was the real culprit they kept a close watch on him, and used the other guy to call him in his house, with the pretext of being sick so that he would take him to the hospital. As he came out from the house, the CID caught him and brought him to the jail, where I met him at midnight. On rigorous interrogation, he admitted his guilt.
Then I asked CID for the permission to call my husband and it was granted. I cannot expresstheir happiness when I passed the good news. I could hear shouts of joy over the phone as if a battle had been won. All top CID officers were there, and I went to them and said 'Sir, I told you, within three days God would bring this man in front of me.' They said, 'Yes, Allah is there , Allah is great. This girl is really great...poor girl, suffered a lot.' The girls in my cell joyfully praised me for keeping faith in God and like me, they too began praying in their own way. I told them to never lose faith in God as only He can give justice.
Fifth day
My husband, kids and all my near and dear ones came to see me. My little son thought I was in the hospital. They also recognized the cashier who put his head down with shame. I was eagerly waiting to get out. I wanted to go out, become a free bird. I was tired of sitting on the ground. However I had to wait till evening till the procedures were over.
Then CID asked me to their office and also brought the cashier, and real interrogation started. He was asked about each robbery that was done by him and its modus operandi. He admitted that he did the transactions through my account, without my knowledge. Whenever he risked a lie, they tortured him. In my presence, they turned him upside down and I could see him cry out in pain as they punished him. I could not bare to watch the scene and asked permission to go out. I have seen all this in movies but had never even dreamt that I would watch it in reality. He was punished in this way upto 1900 hours that day and I thought they would kill him before the day ended.
Thereafter, they arranged the letter for the court and I was told to meet the magistrate for final release. At 2100 hours, the CID general manager and inquired about my family and asked for my husband's mobile number and left me there. Now I was worried as they had told me that I would be out in the evening, but it was already midnight and I was still in jail.
2330 hours, the CID manager came again and asked me to come out with my bag. He took me to the guest room. He opened the door and switched on the light and there was a big surprise waiting for me. My full family was there - shouting, 'Shantha is back! Shantha is back!' You can imagine the joy everyone felt. And this was the beginning of my second life. The CID manager told all of us that he wanted to give us a surprise.
Sixth day
At 0045 hours and mind you it was a Friday, when Kuwait does not work. But not the CIDs. They brought the cashier handcuffed with chains on the legs and took us to the magistrate of finance department. The GM also gave special permission for one of my close relatives to be with me. Around 0100 hours in the morning the court proceedings began. It continued for three hours, and then the judge called me and asked if the cashier was my enemy and I said no. He told me that I did a mistake by giving my account number, a point which I fully agreed on. My brother who was sitting outside was also asked to come in. The magistrate asked me to sign some papers and my brother asked, 'Sir, any more problems for Shantha?' for which he he replied, 'She is clean as a white paper.' Then he also wrote punishment to the guilty. They gave me all my belongings and I was out of the court and back at my house. My house which was like a mourning house for five days had suddenly turned into a marriage hall. We all praised the Lord before we started eating. Our Lord became the main Wasta for me. We called Mangalore and my parents started crying with relief.
My sponsor, though he could not do much for me, gave me immense moral support. My manager became an angel who, by giving the officers accurate details about me and on cashier, helped solve the case. I thank the Lord for giving me the strength to go through the ordeal with courage and faith.