Battle intensifies: Rhea Pillai tells cops Paes tried to evict her from home

The custody battle between Leander Paes and his live-in partner Rhea Pillai got worse on Thursday with the latter approaching the police to complain that she was being prevented from entering the house she lives in with the tennis star. Pillai was spotted at the Bandra police station where she went to complain against some men who had allegedly prevented her from entering the Carter Road apartment she lives with Paes, according to reports. [caption id=“attachment_1515627” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rhea Pillai and Leander Paes in better times. Sachin Gokhale/ Firstpost[/caption] Pillai had gone with the couple’s daughter Aiyana, the subject of an intense custody battle between the two, to attend a party for a Bollywood actress’s niece and had reportedly returned home alone when she was barred from entering, reports the Hindustan Times. _“There were five goons who didn’t let Rhea in…She saw Leander had packed all her belongings and was preparing to throw her out,"_a friend of Pillai’s was quoted as saying in the report. Pillai has claimed that Paes had attempted to evict her a month ago as well and said that he had “entered her side of the house”, hacked her computer and stolen her jewellery. The former model told Mid-day that she did not want Paes’s father, Vece Paes, to stay with them since he had threatened her in the past. Paes’s father reportedly lives down the road from the couple, according to the report. Pillai, in an interview to Mumbai Mirror, said she saw Paes and his mother “running out of the building” as she was entering. Her clothes had been put into boxes and thrown out, she said. Asked when things began to sour for the couple, she told the tabloid, “Nothing was ever hunky dory. I was just saving my marriage for the sake of my child. I had made peace with myself but there came a point when I decided that we needed to separate. His ego couldn’t accept my decision.” She claims the tennis player, who is in the country only six weeks every year, was cheating on her “from Day 1”. The legal firm representing Paes has issued a statement saying that the house was owned by the tennis star and the police complaint seemed to be a bid on the part of Pillai to gain sympathy. “This police complaint seems like a bid on Rhea’s part to gain sympathy, create controversy and stop Leander’s parents from staying,” Zulfikar Memon of MZM Legal said in the statement. Paes had earlier filed a petition in the family court seeking his daughter’s custody on the grounds that Pillai was an irresponsible mother. In his 30-page petition, filed on 3 May, Paes alleged that Rhea’s “escapades, indiscreet and irresponsible behaviour, lack of personal maternal supervision, volatile temper and self-indulgence created insecurity in the child and was detrimental to a healthy upbringing”. Paes’s petition claims that he would be a better parent than Rhea. It says that since the child’s birth, Paes attended to her and took care of the chores such as changing diapers, giving her a bath, packing her school bag and reading her bedtime stories before putting her to sleep. Meanwhile, Paes has also approached the city police alleging that his daughter was in danger and she may be forcibly taken out of the country by Rhea. Paes submitted an application to Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria, who forwarded it to Additional Police Commissioner Milind Bharambe to look into the matter, police sources said. Paes has urged the family court to restrain Rhea from taking the child out of the country. with inputs from PTI