A Delhi court ordered a NRI to pay a monthly alimony of Rs 15,000 to his wife living here.
Additional sessions judge Rajneesh Kumar Gupta ordered Paschim Vihar native who is an NRI, Dev Raj Khanna to pay the maintenance to his wife, rejecting his claim that his marriage had never been solemnised with her.
“There is prima facie material to show that the respondent is the wife of appellant Dev Raj,” said the ASJ upholding a magisterial court’s ruling for maintenance and dismissing Dev Raj’s appeal against it.
“There is nothing on record to show prima facie that the respondent (woman) has sufficient means to maintain herself. However, as Dev Raj is the joint owner of property situated at Paschim Vihar and owner of one property in United States, he is a man of means,” said the court ordering him to give the alimony.
The sessions court gave the order on basis of a marriage certificate, showing that the woman, a native of Punchkula in Haryana had married Dev Raj on December 19, 2007, at an Arya Samaj Mandir here.
The woman in her complaint to the magisterial court had said after the marriage she began living with Dev Raj at his Paschim Vihar residence since 2009, while he kept on shuttling between India and the USA, often staying there for months altogether.
She had added that Dev Raj also began neglecting her and even abused her. He even stopped giving her money for daily needs and made it difficult for her and her minor children to survive.
