Agencies
Jun 29: Popular Bollywood playback singer Udit Narayan is keen on a compromise and settlement with Ranjana Narayan, a woman who claims to be his first wife. He has reportedly approached her and initiated a move in this direction.
Taken this into consideration, Bihar State Women's Commission, on Wednesday, gave Narayan seven more days to depose personally before it and explain allegations made by the woman who claims to be his first wife. After failing to appear for the fourth time in two months, Narayan was issued a notice to depose personally at the commission's South Bailey Road office in Patna, officials said.
The Commission's chairperson Manju Prakash told newspersons that Narayan's lawyer indicated the singer was keen on a settlement. However, the decision to give him more time has raised eyebrows."It has taken a U-turn after last week's stand of not giving more time and threatening to issue warrants," said a woman activist who helped Ranjana Narayan. She questioned how Narayan would appear next week considering he hadn't on four different occasions in the past.
The commission has registered a case of breach of marriage against the singer and issued a notice to him on the basis of a complaint filed by Ranjana Narayan in April this year. Ranjana, a resident of Nirmali village in Supaul district, claimed she was his first wife and that they were married in 1984 in an arranged match. She also claimed that the singer's second wife, Deepa, was not his legal wife. "I possess all photographs of the marriage solemnised at my house," she said. "How can Udit marry another woman without divorcing me?"
Following a complaint with the state women's commission, Ranjana Narayan had also met Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar seeking justice. Earlier, she staged a protest at a five-star hotel by blocking the room in which Udit, his wife Deepa and son Aditya stayed until police intervened. Udit, who had come to attend a marriage, was escorted by police to Patna airport.
The singer has reportedly said, in Mumbai, that he does not know any Ranjana Narayan. He claims it is a conspiracy to malign and defame him. His wife Deepa has also dismissed the allegations.