Rizwanur Rahman - Love and Marriage

Love and Marriage

Rizwanur Rahman, a middle-class man, met the 23-year-old Priyanka Todi, daughter of the extremely wealthy Ashok Todi owner of Lux Cozi company, at the graphics training school where he taught. They began an affair, which was kept secret from their families.

It is believed that on August 18, 2007, the two secretly married according to the Special Marriage Act to which a few close friends and colleagues of Rizwanur were witnesses. The two families were not informed about the marriage and no witnesses were declared in the case later on.

After the ceremony, Priyanka went back to the Todi family and Rizwanur continued his work at the multi-media centre. In late August Rizwanur Rahman approached his brother and confessed to having secretly married. On August 31, he brought Priyanka home to his family's small apartment in a working class Muslim neighborhood. He and Priyanka signed and sent a letter to the police asking for protection from her father.

Later, Priyanka would say: "My mind was a blank... I was just signing whatever letters Rizwan was telling me to sign. I once told him we shouldn’t mention my father, but he said Pappu and Rukbanur had insisted that we frame the letters like that and they knew best."

It is alleged that Priyanka's father Ashok Todi and the Todi family were displeased that Priyanka had married into a lower income family, and Rahman being a Muslim exacerbated their displeasure. It has also been alleged that Rahman was told to "remove himself" from Priyanka's life and was also threatened by various fronts for this inter-religious marriage. On August 31, Priyanka and Rahman notified the authorities that they were staying together at Rahman's house.