Shoaib may face cheating case ahead of marriage

A day after Sania announced her decision to marry Malik next month, the past has returned to haunt the former Pakistani captain.

Mohammed Ahmed Siddiqui, a businessman from this city, has threatened to sue Malik for cheating his daughter Ayesha. He told an Indian news channel that he would approach the court to demand divorce for his daughter.

“I want Malik to divorce my daughter so that she can marry again and start her life afresh,” the channel quoted him as saying. He claimed that the news of Sania’s marriage with Malik has shocked his family. He also remarked that Sania would be the second wife of Malik.

Ayesha’s mother Farisa has also hit out at Sania saying she was marrying Malik despite knowing what happened to her daughter. Farisa wanted to know why Sania fell for Malik and wondered if she called off her engagement with Sohrab Mirza to marry the Pakistani national. The top-ranking tennis player called off her engagement with childhood friend Sohrab two months ago citing “incompatibility”.

The Siddiqui family claims that Malik married Ayesha on June 3, 2002, through exchange of vows (nikah) over telephone but the Pakistani cricketer has denied this. While admitting that they were engaged, Malik said he called it off as the two families could not reach an understanding on some issues.

In February 2008, Siddiqui claimed he has the proof of marriage but did not file the case after Malik’s family accused him of cheating and warned of legal action.

However, in January 2008, Malik announced that he was calling off the engagement with Ayesha. Secrecy still shrouds the whole episode but Malik’s family members reportedly claimed that Ayesha was not the girl Malik fell in love with after a meeting in a Dubai restaurant in 2001.

Meanwhile Shoaib’s family has challenged M A Siddiqui to sue the former Pakistan captain in court. Reacting to the charge, Shoaib’s brother-in-law Imran said that Siddique was raking up a dead issue for cheap publicity. “We have said it clearly in the past that Shoaib was never engaged to married to Ayesha. They were just friends and that friendship also broke off because of a problem,” he said.