While diplomatic dialogue and legal intricacies drag on with no end in sight, Indian traders Shyamsunder Agrawal and Deepak Raheja, stuck in China for the last five months, are steadily slipping into a state of depression and financial decline.
The two Indian traders are literally living a hand-to-mouth existence, while back in India, their families are faring no better with the sole breadwinners unable to send money home.
“My wife is running out of money, and my children have been refused admission to school as we have not paid the fees. The entire house used to run on the money I would send home every month. Now, with that income cut off, my family is in a very bad state,” Mr Agrawal, a Mumbai native, told this newspaper, speaking on the phone from China.
“We have sold off most of our valuables to buy two square meals a day. The financial aid from the embassy is hardly enough to cover our needs. Our resources are not going to last much longer under these circumstances,” Hyderabad native Mr Raheja added.
Moreover, the duo’s legal troubles too have suddenly increased just as there was a ray of hope.
“The case against us was drawing to a close, and we were confident that the verdict would be in our favour. Out of the blue, we learnt that two fresh cases had been registered against us two days ago,” Mr Raheja said.
The duo was held to ransom by a group of angry Chinese traders after their employer fled the country leaving unpaid debts worth millions. The matter escalated into an international incident, when Indian ambassador S. Balakrishnan was assaulted by the Chinese on the premises of a Chinese court. The duo was then moved from the Yiwu province to a hotel in Shanghai, where they are currently staying.