Eight days into their marriage, in 2001, he abandoned his wife in Calcutta and left for Hampshire, USA, to lead his own life. Six winters later, the doctor who dumped his wife has been forced to pay a price.

On Tuesday, Dipak Sharma — under pressure to secure the release of a relative behind bars for his failure to show up in court — paid Rs 30 lakh to Veenita Sharma, a resident of New Alipore. He will shell out another Rs 10 lakh in cash and jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh (taken during marriage) following disposal of a divorce case in Calcutta Family Court.

Dipak, an NRI doctor, came to the country in 2001 after a relative, Sunita Sharma, negotiated his marriage with Veenita. The marriage ceremony took place in Calcutta. Days after marriage, Dipak told Veenita that he would leave to rejoin his duties and arrange for her passage to the US.

“Veenita never heard from her husband again. In desperation, she turned to the state women’s commission for help in 2004. We advised her to lodge a case in Alipore court claiming maintenance from her husband,” said her lawyer (and CPM legislator) Bharati Mutsuddi.

Sunita moved Alipore court and the commission took up the matter. The court asked Dipak to appear, but he gave power of attorney to Sunita, who moved a Delhi court on his behalf, seeking divorce. “We engaged advocate Indira Jaisingh, who asked the Delhi court to send the divorce case to the Calcutta Family Court... When the husband could not be arrested, we pleaded with the judge in Alipore court to issue a warrant of arrest against Sunita, who had negotiated the marriage. Sunita was arrested by Bengal police from her residence at Mandakini Enclave, in New Delhi, on January 25 this year,” said Mutsuddi.

Sunita’s imprisonment for over a month forced Dipak to surface. “We told Sunita that Veenita would withdraw the maintenance case against Dipak if he agreed to pay Rs 40 lakh. Dipak agreed. After getting Rs 30 lakh in cash from him on Tuesday, we prayed before Justice S.K. Gupta of Calcutta High Court to quash the case pending against Dipak in Alipore court,” Mutsuddi said.