Husband ‘abducts’ SP leader

This was not on the official agenda of the Samajwadi Party’s national convention in the Bihar capital today. In a drama that unfolded o...

This was not on the official agenda of the Samajwadi Party’s national convention in the Bihar capital today. In a drama that unfolded on the sidelines of the meet, a woman delegate was ‘‘kidnapped’’ and later rescued by the police, who later found out that the alleged ‘‘kidnapper’’ was none other than her husband who wanted some private moments with her.

The incident happened this morning when right outside the venue of the convention at Gandhi Maidan, Anita Singh, a member of the SP’s women’s wing, was reported ‘‘kidnapped’’. Patna City SP Shalin chased the vehicle in which she was taken away, and finally it turned out that the ‘‘kidnapper’’ was her husband.

‘‘He has been torturing me for dowry,’’ said Anita who married Manish, a contractor and businessman, in 2004. ‘‘He wanted my father’s flat in Delhi and a sum of Rs 5 lakh.’’ Manish, however, said: ‘‘I just took her away so we could talk in private since there were too many people around.’’

Story continues below this ad

Shalin said he was a few metres away from the site of the incident when a friend of Anita came to him, screaming about the alleged abduction. ‘‘I chased the car. The woman was trying to get out of the car. After nearly a kilometre, the car stopped and we took its occupants to the police station,’’ Shalin said.

Anita, 30, is a member of the national executive of the SP’s women’s wing and claims she studied in Delhi’s LSR College. But Manish says ‘‘she is just a high school-pass’’.

Manish said he had asked his wife not to go to Patna since she was pregnant. ‘‘But she defied my suggestion and went ahead. Then she called me, too, to Patna,’’ said Manish, who drove down from his hometown Gorakhpur in UP.

Anita said her husband was jealous of her rise in politics. ‘‘My rise in politics hurt his ego and, last Diwali, when I took sweets to Amar Singhji, he beat me up. He also wanted to use my political connections for his own benefit,’’ she added.