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This is an archive article published on March 30, 2004

Is Ms Pandit Mrs Mishra?

The little matter of who will represent India at the next Miss World contest hinges on whether or not 22-year-old Lakshmi Pandit is married ...

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The little matter of who will represent India at the next Miss World contest hinges on whether or not 22-year-old Lakshmi Pandit is married to the man she shares an apartment with.

The organisers on the Pond’s Femina Miss India 2004 contest are now playing detective as they try to establish the marital status of Pandit who, by virtue of finishing second in the pageant, would normally have had a shot at the Miss World Crown.

The rules state that the contestant must be single. A ’missus’ does not qualify for a Miss India crown. As the issue of Pandit’s eligibility flared up, Times Infotainment Media Limited, the pageant organisers, issued a statement saying: “We are in the process of corroborating the issues that have surfaced involving the recently crowned Ms World 2004 – Ms Lakshmi Pandit. Once, we are thoroughly satisfied with our fact-finding process, we will be in a position to officially present the winners.”

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The main evidence against Pandit appears to be that for the past five months, residents of Lok Sadan Cooperative Housing Society, Malad (West) have assumed she and her partner, Dr Siddharth Mishra are a married couple.

While brokers familiar with Mumbai’s housing situation pointed out that it is not uncommon for live-in-partners to pose as married for the purposes of renting an apartment, Pandit’s next-door neighbours insist that the broker introduced the couple to them as “Mrs and Dr Mishra”.

Pramod Padwal, the agent who helped the couple find a house said he had shown “three flats to the husband-wife”. When a TV reporter asked Pandit if she was married, she replied: “I am single.”

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