'Now we can talk to our neighbours with our heads held high'

Swapna Khanna

She lit a lamp and prayed every morning and evening to Sai Baba for her husband's innocence. But till Tuesday afternoon she did not have a clue that her prayers were answered. Her husband, Delhi groundsman Ram Adhar, who was named in the Central Bureau of Investigation report on match-fixing, was exonerated by the BCCI's disciplinary committee.

Lalti Devi lives with her four children in a one room house in Tirlokpuri, East Delhi. She was all alone when the good news was broken to her, as Ram was is in his hometown in Uttar Pradesh, having had to rush there following the death of his elder brother a few days back.

"My neighbour told me in the afternoon that my husband has been pronounced innocent by the cricket board. I always knew he was, but I prayed because the people for whom he works for also should also think the same," Lalti Devi said.

Sobbing she added: "Hum gareeb aur anpad hai, isliye yei bade logo nei hamare pati ka naam le liya (We are poor and illiterate, that's why these big people have named my husband).

"My husband has been working for the last 20-25 years, and all through we have run the house on his salary. If we could not manage why did he not get involve in such scandals before?"

Along with her neighbour Vimla, Lalti sat in front of the television, surfing channels to see which one had the news of her husband being exonerated.

"It feels good; God did answer my prayers. Now we can talk to our neighbours with our heads held high, and the children will no longer feel hesitant to go to school," she adds before recounting the day when her husband returned home bruised and battered after being interrogated by the CBI.

"On October 2 my husband came back home around eleven at night, his nose was bleeding. The police hit him so much it looked he would die. He did not talk for an hour; I thought he had a fight, but then he told me that he has been accused of taking a bribe of Rs 50,000.

"Ram Adharji went into depression. We thought if he continued to be like that he would have a heart attack; but God saved him. His elder brother also died of depression after getting the news of his brother being named in the match-fixing scandal. He was not ill," confided Vimla, while repeatedly cursing those who had implicated her husband.

A neighbour said: "We know the family for 25 years now, and one thing I can bet on is that I have never seen anybody as innocent as him; not even anybody in my family."

Sure, after the brief encounter with Lalti and those in the neighbourhood there can be no doubt about that.

But for the moment, it was the family's day to celebrate. "I don't know if he (Ram) has got the news, but today I am going to celebrate. My children like gajar ka halwa, I will make it for dinner tonight," said a relieved Lalti.

Mail Cricket Editor