New Delhi, Nov. 15: For her, it was a wrong number. For him, it was a “missed” call. Net result: a broken marriage.

And a heartbroken Damanan Daveri.

The young man from Assam has been shuttling between a local police station and a court in Kerala since last Sunday requesting authorities to help him trace his wife Bairabi, who has eloped with a Malayali youth.

He has refused to leave Kerala without his wife, come what may.

Unfortunately for Daveri, his wife and her new “husband”, Nazeer, have gone into hiding and the local police say they are “helpless”.

It was a wrong number that brought Bairabi, also a native of Assam, and Nazeer, together. Bairabi, then living with Daveri and their two kids in an Assam village, had dialled one of her relative’s in Karnataka but the call accidentally went to Nazeer’s phone.

Realising it was a wrong number, Bairabi had disconnected the line but Nazeer, then working in a Bangalore hotel, got curious. He called back and both got talking.

As telephone romance bloomed into love, Bairabi decided to leave her husband and daughters.

Last month, she and Nazeer came to Chavakkad, in Thrissur, where Bairabi converted to Islam and “married” her lover.

Nazeer’s family, apparently unaware that Bairabi was married with children, welcomed her as his wife.

Bairabi settled down to a “burqa-clad” life in the coastal town, but Daveri tracked her down — first to Bangalore and then to Kerala.

He didn’t come alone. With him came four policemen from Assam and two women constables.

In his complaint with the local police station, Daveri said Nazeer had abducted his wife. The police then asked both Bairabi and Nazeer to appear before them.

Bairabi, however, told the police she had not been abducted but had eloped with her lover. She also said she would never go back to Daveri who, she alleged, ill-treated her.

A dejected Daveri then filed a case with the judicial magistrate’s court. The court summoned the “lovers” but Bairabi again declared her love for Nazeer.

“She told the court emphatically she was deeply in love with Nazeer and would never go back to Daveri,” advocate C.S. Hrithik, who appeared for Bairabi, told The Telegraph.

Sources said Daveri, hearing his wife openly rejecting him, collapsed in the court.

But determined to get her back, he again filed a complaint with the local police station. But, by then, the lovers had gone into hiding.

When he heard that his wife was absconding, Daveri again collapsed at the police station.

“It is obvious that Bairabi does not want him,” a police officer said. “We tried to make him see the truth, but to no effect.”

The police team from Assam is planning to leave for home, but Daveri is not giving up hope.

He is said to have told the police that his wife was under some magic spell and would come back to him one day.