In a poignant new twist to the tale, Gill revealed that 10 days before his death, a distraught Verma had removed his oxygen mask in hospital to telephone Maheshwari and ask, "Are you in a conspiracy against me?" Maheshwari does not deny that last phone call, but claims it was just friendly banter. He says that Gill, a poet and herself a Rajkamal author, wants to launch her own publishing house with Nirmal Verma’s works and wants him to give her publishing rights for these. Maheshwari has asked her for documents to prove she has inherited the rights.