Alleging that his wife and son assaulted him, didn’t give him enough food, and drove him out of his own house, forcing him to lead a “nomadic” life, Vishvendra Singh, a Cabinet minister in the previous Ashok Gehlot government, has sought a maintenance amount of Rs 5 lakh per month from them. He has also demanded that they be removed from his properties. Singh’s wife Divya Singh and son Anirudh Singh, however, termed the allegations false and said Vishvendra has sold off everything and that only Moti Mahal remains. Vishvendra, 62, has filed a petition before a Sub Divisional Magistrate under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. In the petition, he said he is a heart patient with two stents and can’t handle any “tension”. As per the petition, he contracted Covid twice in 2021 and 2022 and that Divya and Anirudh allegedly “neglected him” and did not help him physically, mentally or financially. Singh said he owns several properties, endowed to him by his father Maharaja colonel Sawai Brijendra Singh through a will. These include Moti Mahal, spread in an area of about 100 acres; Kothi Ijlas Khas in Bharatpur (87,145 square feet); Suraj Mahal in Bharatpur, and a kothi in Delhi’s Hauz Khas enclave. He claimed that for the last few years, the two have adopted a “bagawat ka ravaiya (rebellious attitude)” towards him. “On many occasions, the clothes the applicant used to wear were torn and thrown in a well or burnt. Many useful papers, records, files, etc were also thrown in the well, and useful items from the applicant’s room were also thrown out or broken,” he claimed. He claimed his glasses were forcibly removed and broken, food wasn’t given on time or was insufficient, and they also stopped the cook staff from giving “chai-paani” to him. Moreover, the guards were instructed to stop people of the region from meeting him. The main gate was locked and guarded and he wasn’t allowed to leave or enter without their permission, he alleged. He claimed they also started manhandling him and confined him to a single room, and that their intention was to make him end his life so they could grab his property. Eventually, he claimed, he was forcibly driven out of his home and forced to live as a “khanabdosh (nomad)”. Addressing a press conference with Anirudh, Divya Singh said, “If I open my mouth about what has happened to me in the past 30 years, then maybe the case will reach the Supreme Court." She said that a son protecting her mother is a good son: “After all, he has seen injustice being done to me in every way.” “We have to protect our ancestral property. The entire issue began when Moti Mahal was being sold and we tried to save it – everything has been sold by him and only Moti Mahal is left. I will save Moti Mahal and its compound till the day I die,” she said. Taking to X, Anirudh said, “We will not let Moti Mahal be sold off.” “My mother and I have the highest faith in the SDM Court and on the Hon’ble Judge to handle the matter with alacrity and fairness,” he said. The friction in the Singh family, which traces its lineage from the erstwhile Bharatpur royal family, is not new. In May 2021, too, Anirudh had posted on X, “I have not been in touch with my father for six weeks now. He has turned violent toward my mother, collected debt, turned (to) alcohol, and destroyed the businesses of friends who are supporting me. It is not just a difference of political ideologies.”
