E-Paper
'Faked his death to destroy me': Russian woman alleges husband left her stranded in India after 5 years of marriage
A Russian woman, who moved to India in 2015 to pursue her PhD at JNU, has alleged that her husband abandoned her after 5 years of marriage.
A Russian woman’s emotional account of love, marriage and alleged betrayal in India has gone viral after it was shared by Humans of Bombay on social media. Olga, who moved to India in 2015 to pursue her PhD at Jawaharlal Nehru University, claimed that her husband disappeared shortly after she applied for a spousal visa, leaving her stranded, financially distressed and unable to leave the country.
According to the post, Olga first met her husband in 2014 and married him in 2019. “I came to India for love. I never imagined that same love would become the cage I’m still trying to escape,” she said.
“I’m from Russia, and in 2015 I arrived in India to pursue my PhD, excited and hopeful for a new beginning. I had already met him the year before, and falling in love with him felt natural, effortless. By 2019, we were married. I told myself, ‘This is it. India is home now. He is home,’” she added.
(Also Read: 'Heartbeat of our work was gone': Content creator couple says Meta suspension wiped out 10 years of work overnight)
Husband’s disappearance and the betrayal
Olga stated that problems began in November 2023 when she applied for a spousal visa. She said that her husband was required to attend a single interview as part of the process. However, in January 2024, he disappeared without explanation.
Olga shared that she filed a missing-person complaint and spent six months cooperating with police, fearing he might be dead. With her visa process stalled and no immediate family in India, she described feeling “trapped in every possible way”. “I had no money, no family here, and the friends who tried to help me suffered consequences — some were even forced out of their homes. And because my visa was stuck, I couldn’t leave India. I was trapped in every possible way,” she wrote.
The Russian woman said that she later discovered through social media that her husband was alive, living as a Sadhu and leading tourists in the hills. “When he finally returned, he said, ‘I’m sorry. I love you. I made a mistake.’ I wanted to believe him so badly that I did,” she wrote.
Olga further alleged that after briefly reconciling and taking up a job in Himachal Pradesh, she later discovered he was living with another woman nearby. She claimed she continued supporting him financially before confronting him. She also alleged that her husband attempted to portray her as “mentally unstable” to her employer. “He and his girlfriend wanted me fired, broken, erased,” she said.
In a subsequent update, Olga said she was eventually scheduled to return to Russia but was deboarded from her flight after a missing person complaint was filed by her husband. She is now seeking legal assistance to resolve her visa status and return home.
