„He demanded more profits from the clinic and threatened Nimisha. She was scared and wanted to dissolve the partnership, but he refused,” Mr Thomas said.
While the clinic was doing well, Nimisha was keen to return to India, especially after she became pregnant again.
In 2016, she returned to Kochi to give birth to her son. After delivering the baby, she stayed back for a while, but her mother says she was under pressure to return to Yemen.
„She was scared of Mahdi and wanted to break the partnership. He had threatened to kill her if she did so,” Ms Kumari said.
In 2017, Mahdi was found dead, and Nimisha was accused of killing him.
„The body was chopped and put in a water tank. It was a brutal murder,” Mr Jerome said.
Nimisha was arrested, and her family back in India was in shock.
„I couldn’t believe it. She would never do such a thing,” Mr Thomas told the BBC.
The trial, he says, was unfair. „The judges didn’t listen to her side of the story, and the lawyer we hired there didn’t do much for us,” Mr Thomas said.
Nimisha was convicted and sentenced to death in early 2020.
The family has been fighting ever since to save her.