Saturday, August 22, 2009

Supermodel in messy divorce, hubby cries foul


NEW DELHI: Locked in a bitter public spat over his crumbling marriage with top model Ujjwala Raut, British national Craig Maxwell Sterry on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Centre's decision to cancel his PIO card.

Within a couple of days of the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court refusing to stay the August 10 order cancelling his PIO card, Sterry was in the Supreme Court accusing the Centre of succumbing to pressure exerted by his "influential" wife, who had moved a divorce petition against him in 2008 before a family court in Mumbai.

"My wife being an extremely influential and powerful person has tried to create havoc in my life by initiating false complaints. Ujjwala Raut, in connivance with the respondents, has been lobbying for the cancellation of PIO card which was issued to me on October 11, 2006," said model-turned-entrepreneur Sterry, who had married Raut, billed as India's biggest international model, in New York in 2002.

Seeking a stay of the order cancelling his PIO card, Sterry through counsel Devadatt Kamat, sought protection from the apex court against any coercive step by the Centre and Goa government to deport him back to Britain.

"Ever since the birth of baby Ksha in 2005, things started getting sour in the relationship between the petitioners and Raut. The petitioner has been single handedly looking after Ksha throughout as his wife was busy with her modelling assignments," the petition stated.

Sterry had recently sent out a letter containing graphic details of an ugly and violent scuffle between him and Raut at their Goa home, which was sorted out with the intervention of police. He had also given his version of how and why the marriage crumbled, obviously blaming Raut for it.

Raut, who has walked the ramp for the world's leading designers like Ungaro, Cavalli, Gucci and Paul Smith, contested Sterry's version and had said, "If Maxwell is alleging abuse and intimidation, why is he sending you (media) letters? Why is he not resorting to court procedures, which is how things should be."


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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