The controversy surrounding senior Indian diplomat Anil Verma, accused of allegedly assaulting his wife, became murkier on Sunday after a British newspaper claimed that his wife Paromita was scared for her safety and had gone into hiding with their five-year-old son.
The embarrassment for the Indian high commission was compounded as the report also highlighted allegations against the conduct of deputy high commissioner Rajesh Prasad in the matter.
It is understood that Mr Verma is being transferred back and has been asked to report back home to avoid further diplomatic embarrassment, but there was no confirmation of this development either from the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi or the Indian high commission on Sunday.
“We have seen news in the media, we are checking details from New Delhi,” a high commission spokes-person said on Sunday afternoon.
It was not known immediately what action the Indian government is planning to take against the official upon his return to New Delhi. But any action will have to be based on the conclusions of an internal inquiry by the MEA. Pending the inquiry, Mr Verma is likely to be reverted to his parent cadre: Indian Administrative Service.
Mr Verma, an IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, is posted as minister (economic) in the Indian high commission in London. The 1989 batch IAS officer was earlier an officer on special duty attached to senior Union minister Pranab Mukherjee before his London posting. He was sent to London around September 2008, and handles all work linked to trade and economic issues at the Indian high commission.
Mr Verma’s wife Paromita has also applied for leave to remain in Britain on humanitarian grounds as she feels that there is a threat to both her and her family’s safety if she returns to India.
Paromita is an officer in the Indian Railways, and has been on “study leave” since her husband moved to London. Their five-old-son has special needs and is currently under treatment. Paromita has a son from her earlier marriage who, according to sources, was adopted by Mr Verma. Ms Verma has kept a low profile in London and has not been seen at diplomatic functions or parties attended by Indian high commission officials and their spouses.
The details of assault on Ms Verma were also revealed in the report, which claimed that she was punched in her face by her husband. The report alleged that Mr Verma punched his wife in a dispute over a Christmas tree in their house and had also abused his mother-in-law, who was at their residence.
Ms Verma was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead and had given a statement to the police in the ambulance.
The Metropolitan Police had confirmed last week that it had visited the diplomat’s residence on December 11 last year, but refused to give details of the alleged assault after Mr Verma escaped arrest because he enjoys diplomatic immunity.
Ms Verma, who is separated from her husband after leaving their upmarket Golders Green residence in northwest London on January 4, is scared that she would be forcibly taken back to India. “Paromita has gone into hiding and seriously fears that her safety and health are in jeopardy,” the Mail on Sunday newspaper quoted an unnamed family friend as saying.
The report has quoted the same unnamed source as alleging that deputy high commissioner Rajesh Prasad, who visited the Vermas at their home on December 13 and on January 3, had “berated Paromita for letting the incident go beyond the family.”
“We have decided you will go to India on forced leave. Anil will take you to India and keep you there and if he deigns to bring you back, then he will. He will come back here on his own,” Mr Prasad was quoted as telling Ms Verma by the unnamed source.
Ms Verma has hired a prestigious law firm, Mishcon de Reya, to represent her, but there was no response to questions emailed to her solicitor on Sunday.
The report claimed that Ms Verma is scared of her husband. “He began threatening his wife and said, ‘I will take my revenge. I will teach you a lesson.’ Over the next few days he kept threatening Paromita, telling her, ‘I will finish you and your family.’ She was very scared because she knows he can do anything back in India, where he was a magistrate and was very well connected with the police,” the newspaper quoted the unnamed family friend as saying.
The report also accused the Indian high commission of having changed the locks on the family home, preventing Ms Verma from gaining entry.
The British foreign office’s request to the Indian external affairs ministry for waiver of Mr Verma’s immunity was refused by New Delhi.