An intriguing case of

wife-swapping

has left the police at their wits' end since the day it was reported. After a casual meeting of two couples in the city, the husband of one woman begins an affair with his friend's wife. When his friend soon found this out, he approached his friend's wife and the two began having an affair too. Both couples knew about both affairs, but life went on normally. The two families even went on trips abroad, making excuses to spend time with the other's spouse. However, life changed after one of the men died following a sudden heart attack. His wife is now pressuring his friend to marry her, after leaving his wife, claiming they had been having an affair for so long that it has turned into 'love'.

Party ends suddenly

Rendezvous abroad

This story came to light after one person's death and another approaching the family court asking for divorce. The man seeking the divorce claimed that as he wanted to spend the remaining part of his life with his friend's wife with whom he was in an affair, the court take cognizance of his prayer. After approaching the court, the case was transferred from the police station concerned to the women's helpline which called all three people involved in the murky affair for counselling. Then the true story was revealed.It's an interesting story of two highprofile couples from Bengaluru whose lives were riding high like a kite, until a storm ruined the party.According to Vanitha Sahayavani officials at the Police Commissioner's office, Ganesh and Kavitha are one couple and Abhishek and Manasi are the other couple involved in this case of wife-swapping. All are middleaged. While Ganesh is a businessman and Kavitha a homemaker, Abhishek is a class one contractor and Manasi a teacher.Four years ago, the couples met at a function and as time went they became very close. As Ganesh was busy with travel and other business meetings, his wife Kavitha used to take Abhishek whenever she needed to go shopping or to attend any social do. This closeness between the two slowly turned into an affair.“When things started getting serious between Abhishek and Kavitha, Ganesh was conscious of the situation all through, but surprisingly, not at all shocked. Neither did he protest against the extra-marital relationship, nor did he stay quiet. He instead doubled up with Abhishek's wife Manasi and started a relationship with her. All four new about the warped relationships, but continued them without any dispute,“ Saraswathi, senior counsellor attached to the women's helpline, said.Both the couples started travelling to many places including destinations abroad. They went to Singapore, Dubai and other places together, but after reaching there, continued their affairs.While one woman would stay back in the hotel on the pretext of having a headache, the other three went shopping. In between, one of the men used to come back to the hotel and spend time with his friend's wife. While these affairs were not subterranean at all, sometimes fights would erupt between the consenting parties. For them, it was all part of the fun and excitement of life.This behaviour went on for two years until 45-year-old Abhishek died of a heart attack in early 2014.“After Abhishek died, his wife Manasi, who was in an affair with Ganesh, became alone with her two children. So, she started asking Ganesh to keep her company and even marry her as they were in 'love'.While Ganesh dilly-dallied for a while, he later expressed a desire to marry Manasi.Kavitha, his wife, objected to this, but Ganesh was obstinate. He tried to give his wife money and property, but she did not agree to his 'business deal'.Citing cruelty, Ganesh approached the court for divorce. After that, the case came to the helpline which we are dealing with now," Saraswathi added.“After we called all the three for counselling, they poured out the whole story. I spoke to all individually and I came to know about their cross affairs. Now, Manasi says she wants him as she 'loved' him. While he also reciprocates the same feelings, what should we do about his wife? We are counselling all of them to come up with a logical and serious solution to the problem. We cannot comment about why the couples acted such as it is a personal matter. But, as the issue has come to us for resolution, we are trying hard to do something good to all. But no one wants to compromise," counsellor added.