Is a divorce considered valid if pronounced 3 times on the phone in front of the wife’s parents?

Mohtaram Mufti Saheb, Salaam Alaikum !! I am writing this email to seek your advice (Fatwa) on the issue of divorce of my sister. My younger sister was married on 30th May 2007 as per sunni muslim customs. Her husband turned out to be short tempered, abusive and arrogant person who started physically beating her from first day of the marriage. My sister quietly tolerated all this but when she got pregnant, her sister-in-law (boy’s cousin) informed us of this physical abuse to us. We brought our sister to our home in October 2007. A female child was born at our place on 27th February 2008. The boy, who had fled to Saudi Arabia without informing her wife called my sister on 29th March and pronounced her TALAQ 3 times over phone saying ?Main poore hosh hawaas main tujhe TALAQ de raha hun?. He repeated this sentence 3 times over phone. My father and my mother are witness to this as they have also heard it. He pronounced this TALAQ before passing of 40 days after childbirth. My father approached Imarat Sharia (Bihar and Orissa) at Phulwari-Sharif, Patna to take fatwa whether TALAQ happened or not. We received fatwa no. 326 / 2008 from Imarat Sharia confirming the talaq already happened. After 2 weeks, her husband changed his version saying he did not pronounced TALAQ. But we did not send our sister. Later, on 6th May 2008, he again changed his version and said that he had already pronounced TALAQ to my sister. When I asked him that you earlier told that you?ve not given TALAQ, he replied ?Teri bahen ko TALAQ de diya hai maine. Teri bahen talaq-shuda ho gayi hai. Kya tu mere paas bhej kar apni bahen se illegal kaam karwaayega? Tu pooch le apni bahen se, maine use TALAQ de diya hai.? When I asked my sister, she confirmed that he had already pronounced TALAQ on 29th March. Because he was changing his version frequently, this time I have recorded his above statement in which he confirmed the TALAQ. In September, when I asked him and his father to return the money (Total 5.00 lakhs) we have given to his father as dowry, he again sent a written and duly signed paper in which he said that ?I have divorced my wife on 29th March 2008 by pronouncing TALAQ 3 times (Talaq-Ul-Bain)?. This paper has been notorised and affidavit is done. 2 witness from his side and 2 witness from our side have signed on this paper. Now again he changed his version and harassing us saying that he has not given TALAQ and TALAQ did not happened. Now my sister does not want to go with him. We have not sent our sister to him since he pronounced TALAQ on 29th March 2008. In the light of above facts, please guide us by issuing fatwa on the issues below: Question No. 1: Will the TALAQ happen if husband pronounce TALAQ 3 times on phone to his wife, in the witness of wife’s parents? (Please answer this question in the light of Fatwa no. 4401 issued from Darul-Ifta. http://darulifta-deoband.com/home/en/qa/4401 ) Question No. 2: Will the TALAQ happen if husband pronounce TALAQ before passing of 40 days after childbirth? (Please answer this question in the light of Fatwa no. 7236 issued from Darul-Ifta. http://darulifta-deoband.com/home/en/qa/7236 ) Question No. 3: If TALAQ has happened, at which stage did it happened? When he first pronounced 3 TALAQ over phone on 29th March 2008, or when he confirmed about his TALAQ on 6th May 2008 or when he gave it writing about the TALAQ? Mufti saheb, please reply on this issue in my email: mirzafaizan@rediffmail.com. You can put this issue online in your fatwa section also so that other may also get guided on this sensitive issue. Jazak-Allah!