KURNOOL: It was a wrong number dialled by Dowlatha Bee that changed her fate. A widow with a son from the remote Gadivemula village in Kurnool district, her fate changed with the phone call that she made went to Gulzar Khan, a Pakistani national, who was allegedly staying in Mumbai illegally at that time.
Love blossomed between them and they were happily married till Gulzar Khan planned to move to Pakistan with her and five children. Gulzar Khan’s frequent calls to his family in Pakistan drew the suspicion of the intelligence sleuths and found himself in prison after his arrest by the Hyderabad police.
According to the information given by the family members and local police, Gulzar Khan hails from Pakistan and went to Saudi in search of a job. Around 2009, he was arrested by the police there as he failed to produce proper documents.
He reportedly claimed that he was from Haridwar in India and provided fake documents to prove his claim. According to the family members, he landed in Mumbai in 2009 after his deportation to India by Saudi authorities.
While he was working as a painter in Mumbai, Dowlatha Bee’s call to somebody else, reached him. The duo, however, continued to keep in touch and love blossomed between them. It is learnt that when Gulzar told Dowlatha Bee that he hailed from Punjab, the latter misunderstood that he meant that he was from Indian side of Punjab.
In 2011, Gulzar Khan came to Kurnool and met Dowlatha Bee, who is now 51, and proposed to her. Her family members, who agreed to the proposal, even reportedly approached the local police seeking their help to find out the credential of Gulzar as he was from a far off place. After taking the opinion of the police, they went ahead with the marriage.
The couple have four children and Dowlatha Bee’s child from her first marriage is also living with them. Gulzar worked as a painter and daily-wager while she was an ayah at a private school in the village. Gulzar also managed to get Aadhar card and other documents including passport on the strength of his residence in Gadivemula on November 29, 2019.
As their life was moving smoothly, he reportedly came into contact with his family members back home in Pakistan and he started frequently talking to them. He convinced his family members that they would settle in his native village of Punjab in Pakistan.
On December 3, the entire family left for Hyderabad to complete some formalities related to their voyage to Pakistan when they were taken into custody by the police there on December 4. Sources said intelligence sleuths alerted the police after they found that calls were made to Pakistan from the phone number of Gulzar.
“It was only after police took him into custody that we came to know about the actual identity of Gulzar Khan,’’ Dowlatha Bee said adding her husband had no bad intentions and they still believe that he would take care of them, if he takes them to his place.
She wants that her husband be freed as he has not committed any crime. Police sources also maintained that there was no criminal cases against Gulzar Khan nor were his activities suspicious though he did not have proper documents to stay in the country.
Villagers said that recently Gulzar Khan brought an Android phone, and with the help of locals, he got WhatsApp and other social apps installed through which he used to make video calls to his family and introduced Dowltha Bee who also spoke with them.
Nandyal DSP Chidananda Reddy said they were not aware of the incident till Hyderabad police alerted them. “We are investigating how he managed to stay in Kurnool for such a long time. We will also find out how he managed to obtain a passport,’’ he said.