Reports of Sandhya Singh, composers Jatin and Lalit and singer Sulakshana and Vijayta Pandit’s murdered sister, being a desperately lonely woman seeking strangers’ company for solace, has not gone down well with the family. Apparently the family is less than satisfied with the manner in which the probe has been carried out. “Attempts are being made to pin the crime on the family. Our children were interrogated. They were asked things about their mother which no son or daughter could even bear to hear. And now an attempt is being to portray Sandhya as a lonely desperate woman seeking the friendship of strangers. Sandhya’s husband who’s shattered by the death is being harassed through very insensitive interrogation.” The Pandit family has approached the Home Minister R R Patil to help with the case. Speaking on behalf the family Lalit Pandit says, “Sandhya was not an unhappy woman. Her only sorrow was that her husband was in a transferable job and unable to stay in Mumbai with her while she had to stay in Mumbai for her two children’s education. Sandhya was very close to her daughter. Recently her daughter, a brilliant student, left for Manipal for further studies. That was a big blow to Sandhya. On 17 December Sandhya was supposed to fly to Indore to be with her husband who is posted there. She was murdered some days before that.” Sighs Lalit, “ Sandhya was a 50-plus lady with two grown up children and she’s no more here to defend herself. For people outside the family to come forward with stories of her loneliness at a time like this is very hurtful to the family. Please grant us some dignity ,privacy and respect. We’re going through hell. Instead of focussing on the investigation (of the murder) attention is being deflected. Sandhya’s life may have been far from perfect. Does that give anyone the right to kill her?” Lalit admits to the fact that his sister had to be admitted into the hospital once. “We always tried to visit Sandhya whenever we were on the way back from Pune to Mumbai because Sandhya’s home in Nerul was on the way. Once we found her ill at home. We brought her to Juhu and admitted her to a hospital. Sandhya’s blow-sugar level had fallen and she had become disoriented and incoherent. That was the only time she was unwell.” Says Lalit, “Rather than find her assassins why is her character being assassinated? Let’s suppose she was lonely and said so to someone. How did this get into public domain? We had no option but to take the case to the central crime branch. We feel very relieved that the honourable minster R R Patil has transferred the case into responsible hands. Our family is going through the most horrific times. The night when I was informed that a body suspected to be Sandhya was found, was the worst night of my life. I can’t begin to tell you what my wife and I went through that night as we waited for morning to proceed to identify the body. We are planning a pooja. Bhagwan dushman ko bhi aise din na dikhaye. I’ve to not just keep up with the investigation but also handle my brothers and sisters. If it wasn’t for the support of friends like Shabana Azmi I’d have collapsed and crumbled.” And now sister Sulakshana Pandit who is of psychologically frail health has to be informed of Sandhya’s death. “The whole family would have to break the news to her as gently as possible,” says Lalit. “It isn’t easy.”