Inside Raja Bhaiya's divorce plea: Kunda MLA's allegations of 'mental cruelty' against wife Bhanvi Singh

Kunda MLA Kunwar Raghuraj Pratap Singh, also known as Raja Bhaiya, has initiated divorce proceedings against his wife Bhanvi Kumari, citing mental cruelty and desertion, reports suggest. The hearing for the case was originally scheduled to take place on April 10th at Delhi's Saket Family Court, but due to the judge's absence, it has been rescheduled for May 23rd.

India Today reported that a summons was issued to Bhanvi Kumari requiring her to appear in person on Monday in response to her plea. However, since the divorce is being contested and not on mutual grounds, Bhanvi Kumari has been given a specific period of time to respond. After that, the case will proceed based on the evidence of cruelty or desertion as claimed by Raja Bhaiya.

More about Raja Bhaiya

Raja Bhaiya, whose real name is Kunwar Raghuraj Pratap Singh, is a member of the 18th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He represents his hometown assembly constituency of Kunda, having been elected on a Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) party ticket.

In 2018, Raja Bhaiya announced the establishment of his political party, the Jansatta Dal Loktantrik.

Born in Kolkata in 1969, he comes from a family with a noble background in Oudh, where his father Uday Pratap Singh hails from the royal Bhadri estate. Raja Bhaiya's grandfather, Bajrang Bahadur Singh, was the founder of Pant Nagar Agriculture University and also served as the second governor of Himachal Pradesh. Raja Bhaiya is the first person in his family to enter politics.

Due to Bajrang Bahadur Singh not having a biological child, he adopted his nephew, Uday Pratap Singh, as his son.

Raghuraj Singh obtained his undergraduate degree in 1989 from the University of Lucknow. He tied the knot with Bhanvi Kumari Singh on February 15, 1995.

Raja Bhaiya's political journey and controversies

Raja Bhaiya came into the public eye when he was detained by then-UP Chief Minister Mayawati in 2002 for making threats to an MLA. As a result, both Raja Bhaiya and his father, Uday Pratap Singh, were charged under POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act). However, once Mulayam Singh Yadav's government took office in 2003, all POTA charges against Raja Bhaiya were dropped within 25 minutes. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court prevented the state government from dismissing the POTA charges.

In 2004, the POTA Act was repealed, but Raghuraj was still not released by the court. Despite this, he gained popularity and was accused by police officer R.S. Pandey, who had led the raid on his home, of initiating a vendetta against him. Pandey later died in a car accident that was being investigated by the CBI.

In 2004, Singh was appointed as the Minister of Food and Logistics in the Samajwadi Party government led by Mulayam Singh Yadav.

In the 2017 Assembly election, Raghuraj Pratap Singh won by a significant margin of 103,647 votes, with a total of 136,597 votes, defeating Janki Sharan of the Bhartiya Janata Party. In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, Singh won by a margin of 30,315 votes, with a total of 99,612 votes, defeating Gulshan Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. Singh has been elected as a Kunda assembly lawmaker for the eighth consecutive time in 2022 and is said to hold significant influence in five assembly constituencies in the Pratapgarh district, as well as others in adjoining Bihar, according to reports.

About his wife- Bhanvi Singh

Born on July 10, 1974, Bhanvi Singh belongs to the Basti royal family and was born in the Basti Rajgharana. She is the third daughter of Kunwar Ravi Pratap Singh, the Raja of Basti.

According to a report by Aaj Tak, Bhanvi completed her early education in the community and studied up to the eighth grade. She then went to Lucknow with her mother, Manjul, to pursue further education.

Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya and Bhanvi Singh got married in 1995 and have four children together. In 1996, a year after their marriage, Bhanvi gave birth to twin girls, but unfortunately, one of them passed away.

Bhanvi Singh had a daughter in 1997 followed by twin sons in 2003, making Raja Bhaiya and Bhanvi Singh the parents of two sons named Shivraj and Brijraj and two daughters named Raghavi and Vijay Rajeshwari.

The dispute between Raja Bhaiya and his wife

According to a report by India Today, Raja Bhaiya cited in his divorce petition that his wife had abandoned their marital home and declined to live with him. He further alleged that Bhanvi Singh falsely accused his brother and instigated conflicts among the members of the family, which caused him emotional and mental anguish.

According to a report by India Today, sources mentioned that the conflict between Bhanvi Singh and Raja Bhaiya's brother Akshay Pratap Singh caused further strain in their relationship when the UP MLA supported his sibling, leading to further anger from Bhanvi Singh. The situation escalated when Raja Bhaiya filed a case in court based on an FIR lodged by Bhanvi Singh at Jorbagh police station, in which she accused Akshay Pratap Singh of several offenses including sections 420, 467, 468, 471,109, and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code.

Bhanvi Singh lodged a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing accusing MLC Akshay Pratap Singh, also known as 'Gopal ji', of financial improprieties.

Bhanvi alleged in a complaint filed in Delhi that Akshay Pratap Singh, who is an MLC, received access to documents of Shree Da Properties Private Limited, where Bhanvi claims to be the majority shareholder and also serves as its director, with the help of Indra Dev Patel, Umesh Kumar Nigam, Hariom Shankar Srivastava, and others, resulting in financial irregularities, as per report by Navbharat.

Bhanvi Singh alleged that Akshay Pratap Singh, along with his associates, falsely and unlawfully appointed themselves as directors of Shree Da Properties Private Limited, in order to take control of the company's movable and immovable assets. According to a report by Navbharat, Bhanvi claimed that fraudulent documents were used, and her signature was forged. She also alleged that Akshay and his associates attempted to remove her from the company.