Rupa: Standing by her husband

Ranchi, Aug. 17: Rupa Natarajan, wife of suspended inspector-general of police P.S. Natarajan, has asked her husband to surrender at the earliest so that she is saved from the trauma.

Speaking to The Telegraph for the first time after the sleaze tape incident broke out, Rupa said she is not aware of the whereabouts of her husband. ?I am not in touch with my husband. Had he been in touch with me, the first thing I would have told him is to surrender so that I am saved from the trauma which I am undergoing. I have complete faith in the judiciary,? she said.

Rupa came down heavily on the Ranchi police, especially for the property attachment drive. ?This was not an act of property attachment but an open case of ?loot? by the policemen. The case is under judicial investigation. But the police have no right to act in such a manner against me. Hamara kya gunah hai? (What is my fault?) Moreover, is saheb (her husband) a criminal or an anti-national,? she said.

The Tupudana house, in which she is staying with one of her sons, appeared ravaged with pieces of broken glass of the bookshelves scattered in one of the rooms. A book written by Karl Marx is lying at one side. At one corner of the room, there is a broken flowerpot. The glass fitted in the kitchen was also broken.

Rupa, the granddaughter of former Uttar Pradesh Governor C.P.N. Singh, accused Ranchi senior superintendent of police Anil Palta of highhandedness during the property attachment drive. She said she was humiliated by him. ?They had come to attach the property but they had no business breaking the bookshelves and flower pots. I don?t know what is the reason for their vindictive approach. Palta?s approach smacked of personal envy,? she said.

Rupa said her husband was trapped as part of a bigger conspiracy of a strong IPS lobby, which did not want him to be promoted to the rank of additional director-general, for which a notification was about to be issued. She said the timing of the so-called expose was important as this was done exactly a day before the notification was to be issued. She also charged the police with being ?overactive? in the case. When the proclamation order was served, 30 days was given. ?Then what was the need to carry out the property attachment drive just after two days,? she asked.

?I know my husband since 1978 when we got married. He is not a man of this character which has been portrayed by the girl or the media. As far as the CD is concerned, does it, from any angle, reflect that it was rape? Any literate person will say it was not rape because there was no force,? Rupa said.

She, however, agreed that anybody could get lured by temptations. ?Rishi muni tak inse bach nahin paaye to aadmi kya hain (Even saints have got lured by sex),? she said.