‘My father is brave and strong, and he keeps us strong. We do cry and get worried, but he tells us that everything will be alright,’ his daughter stated.
New Delhi: The New Delhi-based Gupta family is enduring a heart-wrenching ordeal as they grapple with the detention of their husband and father, Nikhil Gupta whom they last met in June last year. His daughter, the eldest among the two children, who is managing the family expenses through her professional work, said that the last one and a half years have been a nightmare for them which they would like to believe will end soon.
“I often travel for work for days and he would call me several times a day just to make sure I’d eaten or was doing well. Even when I was away for just a day, he would video call me, saying he wanted to see his ‘Laado’ while referring to the name that he has used to address me since I was a child”, said Gupta’s daughter, sharing memories of her father’s unwavering love and support.
The family’s nightmare began when the daughter was away from home and learned of her father’s detention in Prague.
“When I didn’t hear from him for two or three days, I started to worry. His number was switched off, and it was only after returning home that my brother, who came to know about his arrest first, finally told me what had happened. I was shocked and felt helpless,” she shared.
Her brother was made aware of his father’s detention by a lawyer based in Czech Republic a few days after he was arrested in Prague on the directions of the U.S officials. He has been put in Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn after being extradited to the U.S in November. He has pleaded not guilty.
The Gupta family is left with countless questions, struggling to comprehend why Nikhil was detained and what could have gone wrong.
“Not even in our wildest dreams could we think of the charges the U.S. has pressed against him,” the daughter reflected.
“For days, we were clueless and in disbelief. Where do we go? Which door do we knock?”
Gupta’s wife, a hypertension patient, has taken the situation particularly hard.
“Every morning, she wakes up early, goes to temples, and fasts for my father. She prays to different gods on different days. She is obviously under a lot of stress,” the daughter said, her voice trembling with emotion.
The emotional burden of her husband being in prison has affected her health, as she struggles to cope with the distress.
Gupta’s mother, who is in her twilight years, has been inconsolable.
“She spends most of her days crying and praying, longing to see her son. We had to insist she eat; she was resorting to just one meal a day,” the daughter noted.
“Sometimes she tells us stories from my father’s childhood, as if reminiscing brings her some comfort.”
The absence of his father has caused his son to retreat into himself, even as he faces numerous media inquiries and grapples with unsettling news.
“He keeps to himself, and I can see he isn’t the same. He looks dull,” his sister observed. “Men aren’t always expressive, but he has been deeply affected by what is happening with our father.”
In the rare moments when Gupta calls them from a New York prison where he has been incarcerated for almost a year now, he tries to uplift their spirits.
“He asks what mom made for lunch and jokingly says that when he returns, he’ll eat all his favourite food for a week straight,” the daughter shared, trying to smile through the pain.
Their pet cat, who would stay close to Nikhil has also sensed the tension, often reacting to their father’s voice during phone calls.
The situation has impacted her professionally too. She was removed from a commercial OTT project, with the producer stating that the axing was because of the event surrounding her father. Despite the family’s struggles, they remain hopeful.
“My father is brave and strong, and he keeps us strong. We do cry and get worried, but he tells us that everything will be alright,” his daughter stated.
Earlier last week, Gupta was allowed a public defender by the court, something which he has been requesting for long as the family does not have the resources to engage a private counsel.
“We have written for consular assistance. We are hopeful that the government of India will support us in our efforts to bring my father back to India. He is a patriotic Indian and would never do anything that will hurt the country’s interest,” she said.