FORMER IG Devendra Singh Panda aka Radha, the controversial IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh whose antics gave blushes to his fellow officers is unfazed by titters and mirth that his words bring to people surrounding him.
Draped in a red sari, the ‘anchal’ covering his head, red sindoor splashed on his forehead, ’Radha’ demurs slightly before the camera. ‘Let me fix the ‘anchal’,” he (addressing himself in the feminine gender n Hindi) insists, as a salivating media looking for a punchy quote, controversial sound bite, crowded around him at the Chanakya Hotel in Chhavni area.
Panda or ‘Radha’ as he insists that he should be addressed as, did not disappoint his audience. “I am forever happy and this happiness will last even after my death,” he said, while talking about the eternal nature of his love for Lord Krishna, and then he breaks into a song for the benefit of the cameras.
Organisers who have brought him for the Faag function in Chhavni area, chip in. Even while joining in the chorus, they cannot wipe the huge grin off their faces.
‘Radha’ apart from expounding from the scriptures about the divinity of Krishna and his eternal love for his ‘chosen’ one –claims he is the chosen one – is equally adept at fobbing off difficult questions regarding his relations with his estranged wife, or the elusive American disciple.
{{/usCountry}}‘Radha’ apart from expounding from the scriptures about the divinity of Krishna and his eternal love for his ‘chosen’ one –claims he is the chosen one – is equally adept at fobbing off difficult questions regarding his relations with his estranged wife, or the elusive American disciple.
{{/usCountry}}“All lies,” he says about his wife allegations, “you do not know what women are capable of. To protect their interest they will never even shy of killing their son,” he says, citing the example of Urvasi.
On his duties towards his wife, he gets philosophical, “What we do is due to our actions in out past lives, I am here, you are here, only because God wants us to be here at this time,” he explains.
His sojourn to Indore rather than to Vrindavan at the time of Holi, elicits a shake of head at the naivety of journos, “What is Vrindavan, or Dwarka or Gokul to me. I am with Krishna where ever I go, so Vrindavan or Indore are the same to me. I serve my Lord and obey his command.”