We met her at one of our visits to the prison. We used to do two visits a month, to meet the inmates, pep them up, pray for them.
During one of those visits, we saw her.
Poornima. She looked a class apart, stood out from the rest of them who were mostly from the lower class. She really didn't belong there.
She looked very beautiful, fair and with sharp features and an intelligent face. The first thing that impressed us were her eyes. So expressive, they would well up with tears whenever she spoke.
We learned she was a correspondent with a foreign news channel and was implicated in a false case by her brothers who needed her property. The past three months she was here.
We kept meeting her regularly. She could paint, play the guitar and spoke excellent English. We really pitied her and prayed hard she would find her way out.
One day, news of her release broke out and we were on cloud nine. But a problem arose. Where would she stay till she found a place of her own? That night she could stay at her friend's place, she said.
I volunteered to take her in for a couple of days. She was delighted. The next day, a Sunday, we waited for her at church. She had promised to meet us there. We all waited anxiously.
She didn't turn up. Someone called her. She would come to the sea front in the evening.
In the meantime, doubts started welling up in us. I hadn't slept all of the previous night, worrying if I made the right decision. 'God,I said, if its only from you, let her come home.'
I was woken up from my afternoon nap by an urgent SMS. It was my friend. She asked me to go to Google at once. I rushed to it and typed her name.
What unraveled was unbelievable. She was accused of duping at least thirty people of property, was an international criminal. Accused of forgery even here. She pretended she was kin of a Bollywood star. A con artist. Also a gang was after her.
We checked up several sites, even saw her snap posing as a model.
I quickly called up my friend who was to meet her and told her the story. She said she had read it too.
She met Poornima that evening, who arrived with a young man with whom she stayed. She had met him when she came out of the prison, so he took her in.
Tall story, we thought. She soon realized we were latching on to something.
Six months have passed. We never saw her again.
We were relieved we made the discovery in time.
If she, so innocent looking, could con people, anyone can.
