While diplomatic dialogue and legal intricacies drag on with no end in sight, Indian traders Shyamsu-nder 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 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 resident of Mumbai, told The Asian Age, 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 resident 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. After providing all relevant documents during the eight hour long hearing on April 27, we had proved that it was our employer who owed money to the Chinese traders and that we were being wrongly targeted. Out of the blue, we learnt that two fresh cases had been registered against us two days ago. We don’t even know what exactly these cases are, but don’t know if we are strong enough to go through one more ordeal of a court case,” 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 of Renminbi.
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.