Indus Valley Times

By Mahendra Darjee

Bhubaneswar,May 16: Adrija Manjari Singh, the granddaughter of former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh, on Tuesday brought serious allegations of domestic violence and dowry torture against her husband Arkesh Keshari Singhdeo, the scion of Odisha’s Bolangir royal family, and in-laws.

Arkesh is the son of Ananga Udaya Singh Deo, a former cabinet colleague of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and vice president of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

Appearing on a number of local Odia television channels, Adrija who is currently living at Dehradun in Uttarkhand, said she had been subjected to “unbearable” physical and mental torture by her in-laws.

“I got married to Arkesh on November 23 in 2017. Everything was going on well till 2019. I was living with my husband at Sailashree Palace in Odisha’s Bolangir. However, after my mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2019, I went to Dehradun to take care of her. However, they (in-laws) did not allow to me to attend my mother and called me back to Bolangir to campaign for Arkesh who was then contesting assembly elections. My father-in-law Anang Udaya Singh Deo asked me to bring money from my father stating that they needed money to meet election expenditure. As we expressed our inability, they tortured me physically and mentally,” said Adrija.

Adrija, who is also known as Princess of Manda, said her mother-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law (Arkesh’s elder brother and his wife) also mentally harassed her.

Adrija informed that she has lodged a formal complaint against her husband and in-laws with the Dehradun police with regard to the physical and mental torture by her husband and in-laws. She however, regretted that the police had not acted yet on her complaint. She recently met the Uttrakhand’s Director General of Police (DGP) and sought justice for her.

Adrija informed that Uttarakhand DGP has handed over the case to Dehradun Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) for investigation.

Reacting to the allegations levelled by Adrija, Arkesh said, “She (Adrija) has lodged the complaint against me and my family members at Dehradun six to eight months ago. Since the filing of the complaint, I am not living in my Dehradun house. Adrija’s sister has been living in that house for two years now and her father too lives in that house. As per the police recommendation, I tried to install CCTV cameras in that house for my own safety as well as security of Adrija. But, every time I install CCTV, she cuts the wires off. The whole problem started as Adrija’s father put forth before us some tough conditions, including a BJD ticket for Adrija. As we expressed inability to meet the demands, they have started leveling baseless allegations against us.”

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Photograph: File photograph of Arkesh Narayan Singh Deo and Adrija