Celina Jaitley’s lawyer alleges husband hid her passport, says she fled to India with neighbour’s help

A day after actress Celina Jaitley filed a domestic violence complaint against her husband Peter Haag, her lawyer said her foremost concern is the custody of her children. The complaint cites emotional and verbal cruelty, physical violence, manipulation, coercion and financial control as grounds for divorce.

According to reports by News18, Jaitley’s lawyer Niharika Karanjawala said, “She is fighting it out in the Austrian court. Her children are her foremost concern. We have sought their custody and access in the domestic violence case too. Fortunately, two days back, the Austrian court allowed her one hour of telephone access every day.”

Before this order, Karanjawala added, Peter had allegedly cut off contact between Celina and the children for a while.

Addressing whether infidelity was involved, the lawyer said Celina had no knowledge of any such incidents during the marriage, but claimed that shortly after the birth of her first set of twins, Peter’s sister told her he had earlier been in a live-in relationship while presenting himself as single during their courtship.

Karanjawala said the marriage had been abusive “from the beginning,” but Celina’s emotional state worsened significantly in 2017 amid a series of personal tragedies. That year, while pregnant with her second set of twins, Jaitley lost her father. One of the twins died shortly after birth due to hypoplastic left heart dysplasia. Five months later, her mother died of a rapidly advancing cancer.

Also read: Celina Jaitly accuses husband of domestic violence, cruelty in Mumbai court

‘People I trusted walked away’: Celina Jaitly opens up after filing domestic violence case

Finances, the lawyer said, were a major source of conflict. Peter allegedly took charge of all of Celina’s credit and debit cards, controlled her income and savings, and reacted angrily if she questioned his earnings. Celina also learned that Peter had sold a property they jointly owned in Vienna without informing her. He allegedly claimed financial hardship even as the couple argued about money.

According to the lawyer, Peter has not been employed for several years and persuaded Celina to transfer the rental income from her Mumbai property to his account. Over the years, the couple moved across Mumbai, Dubai and Singapore for Peter’s jobs, before eventually settling in a small alpine village in Austria, where Karanjawala says Celina was “kept very isolated”.

Celina had no family support at the time, her children were young, and she struggled with the language and dependency created by Peter’s control, the lawyer said. Peter allegedly kept her passport and documents hidden. She eventually found them while searching for a quiet place to speak to her lawyer and fled to India with help from a neighbour.