A New Zealand woman Aroha Raharuhi claims her Indian husband offered her a bribe to bring him back to New Zealand after their marriage collapsed.
Raharuhi married Indian citizen Pankaj Badyal in October 2016 in New Zealand.
Mr Badyal, who arrived in New Zealand on a student visa met Aroha, mother-of-five through friends.
The couple got married, lived together before Badyal had to leave New Zealand in July 2017 after Immigration New Zealand rejected Mr Badyal’s visa applications.
Immigration NZ rejected his applications because they were not convinced the couple was in a genuine relationship.
Ms Raharuhi who worked to get her husband’s visa in New Zealand kept following up with Immigration department but realised within three months, she had been deceived by her husband.
“I had made it very clear from the beginning that he needs to foot the cost of the immigration lawyer. I told him I was willing to pay visa fees.
“Everything was normal for the first three months after he went to India but then his parents and grandmother started to influence him.
“Pankaj told me that his grandmother went to see a fortune teller and that person told her I had to get a lawyer or we will be declined (a visa) and if I didn’t get a lawyer it meant I didn’t want to waste my money and I didn’t love him,” Raharuhi told SBS Hindi.
Raharuhi realised her husband’s family had arranged a marriage for him after she saw a woman during the video call.
"I saw a woman in the background and his father appeared shocked in the video call.
"He kept avoiding video calls with me. When i asked him, he said it was her sister. But I have seen his sister before and the woman was not his sister," she says.
“I feel cheated,” she says.
Ms Raharuhi claims she has lost over $10,000 that she gave her husband who sent it to India to reimburse his parents who paid for his education in New Zealand. She claims she even paid for his visa and flights.
She claims her husband's lies kept multiplying.
"He told me he has met with an accident and sent me fake photos. Then he told me he needed some surgery," she told SBS Hindi.
Ms Raharuhi said she cancelled her husband’s visa application on January 24th.
“He then tried to bribe me. He said he will give me $8000 whether we live together or not if I bring him to New Zealand.
Source: Supplied
“I just felt used. I have been so depressed," she said.
Meanwhile, Mr Badyal has said theirs was not a marriage of convenience.
He told Radio New Zealand he still loves Aroha and his parents are not arranging a marriage for him.
He also denied he offered her a bribe.
Raharuhi is now considering annulling the marriage.
