Hyderabad, Apr 4 (IANS) : Indian tennis star Sania Mirza's wedding plans took a dramatic turn Sunday as Hyderabad resident Ayesha Siddiqui, who claims to be the first wife of Shoaib Malik, filed a case of cheating against the Pakistani cricketer after he denied marrying her.
Ayesha also accused Malik, the former Paksitani skipper, of trying to buy her silence for $1 million, muddying the waters ahead of the April 15 marriage of Sania and Shoaib.
In her complaint at the Banjara Hills police station, Ayesha also complained that Shoaib was warning her to keep mum and was going ahead with his marriage Sania without her consent or without divorcing her.
Ayesha filed the complaint under sections 498 A (harassment), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
Police said they would investigate the complaint before taking any action. "We have only received a complaint. We will go into it before taking further action," said Assistant Commissioner of Police R. Ravinder Reddy.
Legal experts said if a case is booked against Shoaib, his passport may be seized and he may be prevented from leaving India until the investigations are completed.
Ayesha told a television channel that she hated Shoaib with passion and said she was determined to see the Pakistani punished for cheating her.
She hit back hours after Shoaib issued a statement claiming that no 'nikah' took place with Ayesha and hence there was no need for him to divorce her before marrying Sania.
The Pakistani batsman accused Ayesha of emotionally forcing him into the marriage but quoted Muslim religious leaders to say that the marriage was not valid as he had signed 'nikahnama' believing that he was marrying the girl whose photographs were sent to him by Ayesha but who turned out to be someone else.
The cricketer released a statement to the press after emerging from Sania's residence, where is staying ahead of their marriage.
He also accused Ayesha of posing as Maha Apa, her elder sister, whose photographs were sent to him and fooled him for five years. Shoaib said neither he or his brother-in-law could never meet Ayesha during their visits to Hyderabad.
Shoaib claimed that Ayesha had starting making phone calls to him in 2001 when he was in Sharjah with the Pakistani team.
"Naturally I wanted to meet her. Every time I brought up the topic of meeting, she would send me a bunch of photographs," the statement said.
The cricketer claimed that he was made to believe that he was speaking to the girl in the photograph. "The truth is that I have, to this day, not met the girl in the photograph," he said.
Shoaib said in 2002, Ayesha forced him into marriage over telephone saying people in Hyderabad had started talking about their relationship and this had put her parents in an embarrassing position.
"We accidentally ran into the truth about who Ayesha was," he said.
"It happened in August 2005. My brother-in-law got a photograph of a teacher in Saudi Arabia who was telling people around her that Shoaib was married to her. I was aghast when he showed me the photograph of the teacher. The woman in the photograph was the woman I called Maha Apa."
A nervous-looking Shoaib told reporters that the marriage with Sania would take place in Hyderabad on April 15. "I have come here for my wedding with Sania Mirza and we are happy," he said. Shoaib said Sania knew the truth and she had been supportive of him.
To a query about Sania's tennis career, he said she would play as long as she wished to play. "She has been representing India and will continue to represent India," he said to another query.
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