A soldier’s widow is running from pillar to post seeking justice for herself and her five-year-old son.

Sujeeta Devi, wife of Sohan Paswan, who died on duty at Siachen glacier on January 14, 2016, has accused a man of threatening to kill her and her son for lodging a complaint with the Jandaha police station in Vaishali district.

Sujeeta, who is in her early 30s, has alleged that Shankar Paswan, a resident of Bishunpur in Vaishali, sexually exploited her and duped her of Rs 9 lakh on the pretext of helping her in getting an Indian Army job on compensatory ground.

Shankar, a family acquaintance, first lured Sujeeta to settle in Hajipur, the district headquarters of Vaishali, and started living as a neighbour. He allegedly established physical relationship with Sujeeta and pressured her into engaging him as a partner in a cooking gas agency that was allotted to her as a slain soldier’s wife.

Sujeeta alleged that Shankar confined her in a room when she refused to follow his diktats, thrashed her and forcibly took her signature on six blank cheques. Shankar also allegedly pressured her to marry him, which she refused to.

“I was brutally assaulted and confined in a room. He snatched my mobile phone so that I couldn’t contact anybody,” she told the police.

She alleged that Shankar also threatened to eliminate her and her son, Sushant Kumar. She somehow escaped and reached her in-laws’ house at Mukundpur Bhath village where she narrated her tale of woes. Her father-in-law Nageshwar Paswan persuaded her to lodge a formal complaint with the Jandaha police station, around 30km east of Hajipur and 50km northeast of Patna.

On Friday, Sujeeta visited the police station along with her father-in-law and lodged an FIR against Shankar. She also met the station house officer (SHO), the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) and the superintendent of police (SP). “I am tired of

running from one place to another to get justice,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Hakimuddin Khan, the investigating officer of the case, admitted that Sujeeta had met him a few days ago. “The accused is absconding,” he said, adding that he has busy due to festivals coming up. Jandaha police SHO Sunil Kumar said: “We are waiting for the senior’s directive to initiate action against the accused. The SDPO’s supervision is awaited.”

Vaishali SP Manavjeet Singh Dhillon was not available for comment.