My life's ended, says Dr Amit Kumar's wife

Hours after kidney kingpin Amit Kumar was nabbed in Nepal, his Canada-based wife said her life was "finished" and she had nowhere to go with her two little sons. Breaking her silence, 28-year-old Poonam Ameet Kumar said: "My life is finished. I don't know what my options are. I don't know where I'm going to go."

She said she wasn't aware of her husband's professional activities but believes he was not involved in the heinous crime and was innocent. "You tell me which human would want to do these things to anyone," Poonam said in an interview with

The Toronto Star

.

Poonam said, "Everyone is calling him the 'kingpin' and 'lord' and these things, but he didn't do anything wrong." She said she first heard about the kidney racket from the television news and she is sure her husband is innocent. She, however, could not back up the claim.

Poonam claims to have had no clue about the alleged racket earlier or if she knew the past of her husband of 10 years who was divorced by his first wife.

Kumar, 40, accused of harvesting over 500 kidneys from poor, underprivileged and unsuspecting labourers and workers, was arrested on Thursday from a wildlife resort in India's neighbouring Nepal.

While Kumar was loaded with money even when he was arrested in Nepal and he allegedly offered Rs 20 lakh to the policemen to let him go, his family in Canada has run out of groceries since Poonam couldn't leave their house to avoid the media glare.

For now, Poonam and her two sons, aged 4 and 5, remain huddled in their $610,000 palatial home in Brampton, a town on the outskirts of Toronto. The couple had bought this home last year. The high-end income neighbourhood were told Amit Kumar was a heart surgeon with a worldwide clientele.

This correspondent has made a couple of attempts to reach Poonam but no one answered the door. The security door of the house is locked from inside. A Ganesha mural is seen hanging at the door of the house. A peek into the garage revealed that the $65,000 Lexus 350 SUV was missing on Friday. A Canada Post notice is pasted on the door informing the inmates that a registered mail can be picked up from the local post office.

Neighbours saw her leaving the home in the luxury vehicle on Thursday night — first time in a week.

HT

learnt the cash-rich joint bank account of the Kumar couple has been suddenly depleted over the last one week, though the house loan payment for February was paid on time to the Royal Bank of Canada.

Poonam has been avoiding journalists, especially that from the Indian media. All lights remain turned off even at night. The house has a basement apartment, allowing Poonam and kids to stay in the confines of the house by avoiding the glare of media and society.

It is to be seen how long will she be able to afford the palatial home and its hefty loan payments without being bank rolled by Kumar's allegedly ill-gotten money. The 5,600-sq feet home has granite counter tops, hardwood floor, stainless appliances, sauna, cabana, wet bar and for, some ominous coincidence, it also boasts of a kidney-shaped pool. Her sons go to a private school, where the fee is about $1,000 a month per child.

Besides the $2,700 monthly loan payment, the massive house has over $400 per month as property taxes and nearly $300 a month utility bills. Under the Canadian laws, any house can be seized if it is proved in the court the property was bought with money earned illegally.