Indian diplomat Anil Verma, who is accused of allegedly assaulting his wife, has a history of violent behaviour, his wife Paromita’s uncle Robert Chase has claimed.
“Following the attack on my niece Paromita, when she was hospitalised, I tried to inform the high commission of India of the situation and of Mr Verma’s violent behaviour,” Mr Chase said in a statement to this newspaper released by Ms Verma’s lawyers late on Thursday.
Mr Chase claimed said that Mr Verma’s first wife had made a formal complaint over his “violent behaviour” that had led to his arrest at the time.
“I now understand that in his previous marriage Mr Verma’s ex-wife made a formal complaint against him and his family, citing cruelty and violent behaviour. I also understand that Mr Verma was arrested in connection with that complaint,” said Mr Chase, who lives on Corringham Road in Golders Green area in north London, where the Vermas lived.
The Indian high commission had claimed that no complaint about Mr Verma’s behaviour had been made to it.
Britain had asked India to waive Mr Verma’s diplomatic immunity after the Metropolitan Police had informed it about the alleged assault on Ms Verma on December 11, 2010. Ms Verma had to get medical treatment after the alleged assault. Mr Verma, who is an IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, was posted as minister (economic) in the Indian high commission in London. The 1989 batch IAS officer was an officer-on-special-duty for Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee before his London posting.
After series of embarrassing revelations about the behaviour of Mr Verma, the Government of India had issued orders for the senior diplomat’s recall about a fortnight ago. Mr Verma has now left the country and is back in India.
Ms Verma left her marital home earlier this month and 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. Her appeal is yet to be heard and is bound to take a few months. Ms Verma has a five-year-old son with Mr Verma and her 19-year-old son from first marriage has been legally adopted by Mr Verma and is a student in Britain. Her mother lived with her and had moved from India with the family.
Mr Chase, who s married to Ms Verma’s aunt Chaitali, denied that the alleged assault was an isolated incident and had been in any way exaggerated by Ms Verma’s family.