'Rupali Ganguly threatened...cornered me': Stepdaughter stands by her 2020 claims
Esha Verma, the stepdaughter of Anupamaa actor Rupali Ganguly, has accused her of having an affair with her father Ashwin K Verma while he was still married to her mother Sapna. In a 2020 Facebook post that recently resurfaced on Reddit, Verma labeled Ganguly as "cruel-hearted" and claimed that she tried to separate her and her sister from their father. "She has had an affair with Ashwin for 12 years while he was in his second marriage," she alleged.
'Rupali has done nothing but tried to separate me...'
In the viral post, Verma wrote, "Ashwin has two daughters from his previous marriages. She is nothing but a cruel-hearted woman who has done nothing but tried to separate me and my sister, his own daughters from their father." Now, in a conversation with Hindustan Times, Verma said: "My parents got married in 1997 and didn't divorce till 2008. We have documentation to show that...Rupali has posed as if they (she and Ashwin) were friends and in love."
Verma detailed her strained relationship with Ganguly
Verma further detailed her strained relationship with Ganguly, alleging the actor threatened her mother and created a hostile environment during her visits to Mumbai. "If I spoke to him on call, she'd scream in the background. She even cornered me when I went to visit him in Mumbai." "She told me, 'You will regret if you ever do this again or say you want your parents to meet.' I was always afraid to go to India and couldn't stay longer."
Verma expressed fear over her father's reaction to the allegations
Verma also revealed that the last message she received from her father was a WhatsApp text asking her to retract her 2020 post and deny its truth. "I have deactivated the app; I am really scared to check it. Rupali has no contact with me," she said. "I don't know what his response is but I am sure it is not going to be very good." To note, Ashwin and Rupali got married in 2013.
Verma's father acknowledged her pain but denied allegations
Responding to the allegations, Verma's father Ashwin reportedly issued a statement acknowledging his younger daughter's hurt over their parents' relationship dissolution. He said his relationship with his second wife had multiple challenges leading to their separation, which were between them and had nothing to do with any other person. However, Verma was disappointed at her father's response, saying he made it seem like a simple divorce when there was more complexity involved.
