BSP MP's wife Jagriti tortured and tried bundling off third maid

More shocking details have emerged in a horrific case of abuse by BSP MP Dhananjay Singh’s wife, Jagriti Singh.

A third domestic maid employed by Jagriti Singh has been discovered, again bearing marks of torture including burn injuries. The maid, identified as Meena Sardar (35), had also been beaten along with Rakhi Bhadra and another 17-year-old youth who was employed in the house.

While Bhadra succumbed to her injuries, Sardar survived. But her injuries are so severe that she cannot even walk. She is presently receiving treatment at Delhi’s RML hospital, where a magistrate took down her statement.

According to her statement, Sardar was beaten badly and burnt with heated iron rods.

When it was discovered that Bhadra had died, Sardar was bundled off to the houses of one of Dhananjay Singh’s friends homes so that police would not discover what had really happened. The couple’s initial statement to the police was that the maid had fallen and died.

A judge remanded both Dhananjay Singh and Jagriti to five days of police custody at a hearing yesterday, where the testimony of the 17-year-old domestic proved critical.

He narrated how all the domestic aides would be beated with an iron rod, sticks, an iron and the horns of a dead animal. The beatings had been going on for several months. He had also said that Jagriti Singh would even brand their private parts with a smouldering iron on a whim. As a punishment, she would also make them stand in the sun for long hours.

According to his police statement :

On the morning of Diwali, Jagriti was supervising Rakhi as she cleaned the house. Jagriti suddenly pounced on Rakhi, furious that she wasn’t dusting the living room properly.” She pinned her to the ground and tried to strangle her before beating her up with a stick, he said. She threw her against the walls and finally pushed her down the stairs. “Rakhi didn’t get up after the Diwali day beating.”

He had shown the court his own injuries, which according to a report in CNN-IBN, even shocked the judge.

According to the Indian Express , Dhananjay Singh had sought to shift all the blame for the incident on to his wife in court. “In May, I had filed for divorce against my wife… one of the grounds was that my wife was treating the helps cruelly,” Singh submitted in court, according to the Indian Express report. His lawyer Hariharan claimed that Jagriti had employed three helps directly from a placement agency without consulting her husband.

However the report added that the 17-year-old had said that although Singh did not live with his wife, he would visit the bungalow often.

And in the Times of India , it was revealed that Sardar had testified that “the helps often complained to Dhananjay, but he would say, ‘It’s okay’”.

Meanwhile police have also revealed that Jagriti Singh had anger management issues and was getting psychiatric treatment. The Times of India has said that she has displayed behavioural problems after losing MP polls in 2012 and that her violent streak became worse as her marriage soured.