Phoolan Devi after her surrender. (File picture)

Bhopal, Jan. 4: The star police officer who tamed Phoolan Devi may have found his nemesis in another woman: his own wife.

Former Madhya Pradesh police chief Rajendra Chaturvedi, the man behind the surrenders of Phoolan and fellow Chambal bandit Malkhan Singh in the 1980s, has been accused by wife Deepnita of beating and torturing her and causing her emotional distress.

The 55-year-old woman has approached the National Human Rights Commission alleging that the state police, to whom Chaturvedi is a hero, are refusing to take cognisance of her complaint.

“He gives me electric shocks and is bent upon proving that I am mentally unsound,” says Deepnita, who some neighbours allege is an alcoholic.

Chaturvedi, who retired two years ago, says his wife’s allegations are false. “She is not well. Please do not write anything that she says. In any case, it is a personal matter,” he said.

Chaturvedi had shot to fame as the superintendent of police, Bhind, in February 1983 when Phoolan, Chambal’s legendary “bandit queen”, agreed to meet him to discuss a surrender.

She arrived for the talks wrapped in a brown woollen blanket, a .315 Mauser slung across her shoulders, leading a group of 12 men.

Chaturvedi came unarmed at her insistence but was wearing his uniform. He had painstakingly negotiated the surrender over nearly a year, during which he directly reported to Arjun Singh, the then chief minister.

The officer earned another feather in his cap by organising the surrender of Malkhan Singh, who carried a reward of Rs 1.5 lakh on his head in the 1970s. Malkhan later tried to enter the state Assembly but lost as an Independent. He is now in the Congress, under the wings of Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Deepnita claims she had played a key role in furthering Chaturvedi’s career. Malkhan, she says, had tied a rakhi on her wrist in gratitude.

Deepnita now lives apart from Chaturvedi, after having walked out and come back many times over the past 12 years.

Her chargesheet is long. She accuses her husband of having affairs, selling property belonging to her and using his influence to block any investigation. “He is so merciless that once I lost several teeth,” she said, claiming that for 12 years, she hasn’t received any maintenance.

“The state human rights panel chairman, Gulab Gupta, once ordered a probe but the file was stolen.”

She now wants the National Human Rights Commission to ask the state police to act against its former chief, and to direct her husband to pass on to her half his pension.