Talking to Newsline from Nepal, Banjade’s wife Khemkala said: “We do not know how we will survive this tragedy. He was the sole earning member of our family. We cannot afford to pursue a court case. We just want our children to be out of trouble.”

She said they will approach the Indian embassy in Nepal and request them to release her daughter and son-in-law.

Khemkala lives with her mother-in-law Krishna Kala in Banjade’s ancestral Dharapani village in the Arghakhanchi district of Nepal.

Recalling her son, Krishna Kala said over phone: “At the age of 12, he (Banjade) had fled to India in search of work. He returned after eight years and married Khemkala.”

He came back to Delhi a few years ago, this time with his daughter. He married her off here and took up a job.

With his parents detained by the police, Banjade’s nine-year-old grandson is being taken care of by their other relatives in Delhi, said Khemkala.

The family was informed of Banjade’s death two days after his body was found on the terrace of the Talwars’ house. They were contacted through a telephone booth, from where Banjade used to call home — Newsline has a copy of Banjade’s call records in May.

Recalling the time when she had last seen him alive, Khemkala said: “He had come over last year and stayed with us for close to a month.”