Ex-cop ‘Radha’ told to pay Rs.15,000 maintenance to wife
By IANSWednesday, July 28, 2010
LUCKNOW - Former Uttar Pradesh inspector general of police D.K. Panda, who abandoned his wife after proclaiming himself to be a reincarnation of Lord Krishna’s childhood companion Radha, was told by a court Wednesday to pay a monthly maintenance of Rs.15,000 to his wife.
Dressed in a saree, adorned with jewellery, sporting thick vermillion on his parted hair and wearing bangles in both hands, the nearly six-feet-tall Panda Wednesday made every effort to appear a woman as he came to court.
Family Court Principal Judge Chandramauli Shukla gave the verdict after spending more than two hours counselling the separated couple to reunite.
The court refused to grant them a divorce, even as both pleaded against the suggestion of living together again. However, the court conceded the wife’s plea for a monthly maintenance of Rs.15,000.
“Although I receive a pension of just Rs.25,000 a month, I will anyhow manage to pay her the maintenance as per the court’s orders; but under no circumstances would I allow her to live with me as I ceased to be her husband the day I was bestowed with the identity of Radha,” Panda told reporters outside the court.
“The only way I could permit her to stay with me would be as my daughter,” he stressed.
He even sang a Krishna bhajan inside the court.
Panda was retired compulsorily before attaining superannuation on account of his behaviour, which shot him into the spotlight nearly six years ago. The case filed by his wife before the family court was pending since then.
