Mom traumatised me, sister: Munde's son

Minister's estranged wife claimed she was abused physically and emotionally; Munde denied marriage

- HT Correspondent

MUMBAI: Maharashtra's food and civil supplies minister Dhananjay Munde, who has been under fire over the arrest of his aide Walmik Karad in connection with the murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in December, has found himself in yet another controversy.

On Tuesday, a metropolitan magistrate court in Bandra ordered the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader to pay an interim monthly maintenance of ₹2 lakh to his estranged first wife, Karuna Sharma, and their daughter, Shivani.

Sharma had approached the court in 2022 and invoked provisions of the Protection of Woman from Domestic Violence (DV) Act, 2005, claiming she had been subjected to physical and emotional abuse during their marriage. She sought a monthly maintenance amount of ₹5 lakh each for herself and her two children, Seeshiv and Shivani, and ₹25 crore as compensation.

Munde had denied that he was married to Sharma and argued that the DV Act was thereby not applicable. He also denied the charges of physical and emotional abuse. Munde had also argued that Sharma had a steady source of income as a director in a few companies involved in the import and export of clothes, and thereby was not entitled to any maintenance.