Mumbai: A metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai has held in its order that tennis legend Leander Paes committed various acts of domestic violence against his former partner Rhea Pillai. The latter had had filed a domestic violence case against Leander Paes in 2014.
The court directed Leander to pay monthly rent of Rs 50,000, apart from monthly maintenance of Rs 1,00,000 to Rhea if she chooses to leave their shared residence. Currently Leander is into a relationship with actor Kim Sharma.
The court, however, added that if Rhea chooses to continue living in their shared residence (at Bandra), she will not be entitled to monetary relief. The magistrate said that with Leander’s career in tennis ‘almost over’, it would cause ‘serious prejudice’ to order him to live in a rented home while also paying maintenance to Rhea Pillai.
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Metropolitan magistrate Komalsing Rajput had passed the order earlier this month. However, the order was published on the website of the court Friday.
Rhea had approached the court in 2014 seeking relief and protection under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. She had said that she was in a live-in relationship, akin to marriage, with Leander for eight years.
She had claimed that Leander, through his acts and conduct ‘caused verbal, emotional and economic abuse, which resulted in tremendous emotional violence and trauma’. The magistrate, in her order, said, “It is proved that the respondent caused various acts of domestic violence.