The person I gave shelter to, robbed and blackmailed me: Pinki

Born in Purulia district of West Bengal, 26-year-old Pinki Pramanik rose to fame when she won a 4x400m relay gold in the 2006 Doha Asian Games and a silver in the same event at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. But those successes were closely followed by a series of injuries and a car crash which compelled her to retire at an early age.

This former middle distance runner again hit the headlines when she was arrested last month after her alleged live-in partner, Anamika Acharya — a divorcee and a mother of one, charged her with rape. Pramanik had to go through hell for 25 days before she was granted bail by a district court which said that she is incapable of committing rape.

She was dumped in the male ward of a prison in Kolkata followed by a battery of inconclusive gender determination tests, one of which was recorded on a mobile phone and it went viral. As if this was not enough, Pramanik has also lost her job with the Indian Railways. In an interview with Saibal Gupta of Deccan Herald, Pramanik — who has been medically determined as a rare case of male pseudo hermaphroditism — speaks about the trauma she went through. Excerpts:

How did you get in touch with Anamika Acharya (the lady who alleged that Pinki raped her)? 

Anamika used to stay in a slum beside my apartment at Baguihati in North 24 Parganas and her child used to come to me and from there the relationship grew. Later on, sometime in June 2010, when the man with whom she used to stay left her she came to me and started crying. She had no income and nowhere to go. She pleaded to keep her in my apartment. Initially I was hesistant  because I would go to office and she would stay in my flat the whole day alone and this might invite problems. But looking at her child, I couldn’t say no and that was the biggest blunder in my life.

What did she do?

She told me that she would do all my household work and in return I should provide food and shelter to her and her child. Apart from this I also gave her money so that she could provide education to the kid.

But after some days I started noticing that my money and valuables started disappearing and when I asked her, she would say that she knew nothing about it. I can’t tell you the exact figure, but in 2011 alone jewellery and cash worth Rs 5 lakh had been stolen from my house. One day I lost my temper and threatened to turn her out of the flat if this continued.

What happened then?
It was sometime in May this year, one day I found that my gold chain went missing. I confronted her but she remained defiant. I told her that I would call the police. Suddenly, she took out some naked photographs of mine and threatened me that she would put them on the net. She had made me unconscious and had taken some pictures, which she started using against me.

I got scared and I thought that it might malign my image and so I preferred to keep quiet. That was my second mistake. Realising that I was scared, she started blackmailing me. She asked me give my flat or 20 lakh rupees. I didn’t know what to do. Neither could I go to the police nor to anyone. I was really confused. So I left the flat and started living in a rented house near my office. For nearly one month, I was not staying in my flat, instead Anamika was staying there with her daughter.   

How did you get arrested?

On June 14 – the day I got arrested, I got a call from her. She told me to come back home because she wanted to leave my flat, but before leaving she wanted to discuss some important things with me. I trusted her, but when I entered the lane to my apartment I found Anamika standing with the police. I knew that I had been trapped. I had no other way but to walk into the police net. In fact I don’t know why the police didn’t want to hear me. They pushed me inside the vehicle and dragged me to the police station.

There was an allegation that you had been in a live-in relationship with Anamika and for that reason her husband also left her...    
First of all I want to make one thing clear. The person with whom she was living was not her husband. They never got married. I never had any kind of sexual relationship or any other emotional or social relationship with this lady. She came to me for help. I needed a person who would assist me. Now I am coming to know that she had the habit of blackmailing people. She did that with many people before.

How were you treated by the police and during the medical examination?
I was treated like an animal. During those 25 days of arrest my worst experience was at the Uma private nursing home where I was first taken for the test. They tied my hands and feet and took off my clothes and took pictures. I protested but they were least bothered to listen to me. The police also misbehaved with me.  They even mocked at me. I had to bear the mental and physical harassment all through the night.

What about the MMS clip that went viral?
 Anamika admitted that she took my photographs and uploaded it. So there is no doubt...whatever I have been alleging is correct. It is a deliberate ploy to malign me.

You have said that you have been framed and was a victim of a greater design. Did you mean to say that someone else is behind this?

I cannot say exactly but I feel that Anamika used the money she stole from me to influence the police. The police should not have behaved in that manner. They should have handled this sensitive issue more carefully.

You have lost your job, your honour and everything which was hard earned. What will you do now?

I shall fight the battle to prove my innocence, but first I want my job back.