(From top) Ranjana, who claims she is Udit Narayan’s ‘real’ wife, displays family pictures at the Patna hotel where the singer and Deepa were putting up. (PTI)

Patna, April 21: A woman claiming to be Udit Narayan’s “real wife” laid siege to his hotel room this morning, forcing the playback singer and wife Deepa to lock themselves in till police arrived to escort them to the airport.

Ranjana Jha breezed past Maurya Hotel’s security guards, a crowd of “supporters” and TV cameras in tow, and knocked on the door of room number 401, where the couple had checked in last night after attending the marriage of Narayan’s niece.

“Look the man has no courage to come out and speak to me,” Ranjana cried to the cameras as she kept knocking, ignoring hotel staff’s requests to leave.

She claimed she had married Narayan in 1984 when he was a small-time singer in Patna, and alleged Deepa was, therefore, not legally wedded to him.

“He kept me in the dark about his second marriage for years and now I have come to seek my rightful place,” she told reporters, holding up photographs of Narayan and herself.

As he was led out by the police, Narayan refused to answer queries. Followed to the airport by the media, he lost his cool and gave them a mouthful as his guards scuffled with camera crews, damaging three lenses.

Later in the evening, a news agency quoted him as saying in Mumbai: “I don’t know this woman and I have never met her before. These are attempts to malign me.”

“Everyone knows I am his wife,” Deepa said. “It (the allegation) is all rubbish and an attempt to gain cheap publicity.”

Although Narayan and Deepa are reportedly married several years ago and have a son, Ranjana claimed she was given to believe they were merely living together.

She alleged that after Narayan shifted to Mumbai, he got acquainted with Deepa, a fellow singer of Nepali origin and soon began living with her.

“Whenever I went to Mumbai, Deepa threatened Narayan with dire consequences and forced me to cut my visit short. As I didn’t want any harm to come to my husband, I stayed back at Patna. But I continued to enjoy the status of his wife. He used to send me money.”

But when she learnt a few months ago that Narayan had married Deepa, she said she found it impossible to take it lying down.

Ranjana alleged she had conceived thrice but Deepa had got her to take medicines to abort the child.

Ranjana, who now stays with her parents at Balua-Nirmali village in Bihar’s Supaul district, claimed her parents-in-law, Harekrishna Jha and Bhuvneshwari Devi, “disapproved” of their son’s second marriage but were helpless as they were dependent on him.

Narayan said: “I had received threatening calls four-five years ago but I didn’t pay any attention to them.”

He said he would lodge a report with the police after consulting his lawyers in Mumbai.

Ranjana said she would seek an appointment with chief minister Nitish Kumar, and if nothing came of it, would move court. For now, she has refrained from lodging a case, preferring to wait for a patch-up.

Udit Narayan with Ranjana Jha (left) and Manju Prakash in Patna. (PTI)

Patna, July 28: The drama is over ? Ranjana Jha and Udit Narayan are “man and wife”.

The playback singer today arrived at a “compromise” with Ranjana, who sparked a furore three months ago by claiming she was his first wife, before the Bihar women’s commission.

Avoiding the queries of reporters outside the panel’s office here this afternoon, Narayan walked in along with four personal guards and lawyer Majid Menon. Ranjana had reached the place by then, lawyer Y.V. Giri accompanying her.

The commission headed by Manju Prakash presented a draft agreement to the duo. It read: “Udit Narayan, son of Harekrishna Narayan Jha, has accepted Ranjana as his wife and agreed to provide for her maintenance and upkeep.”

Narayan and his lawyer read the agreement in which the singer said: “I, Udit Narayan, recognise and accept Ranjana Narayan as my wife and promise to look after her.”

Ranjana, too, submitted: “I have no complaint or grievances against the singer’s wife, Deepa Narayan, and their son Aditya, born on August 6, 1987.” She agreed to withdraw the complaint lodged against Narayan provided “Udit continued to support her financially and emotionally”.

They signed the agreement in the presence of Prakash, who said it was a “working arrangement under which the status of Deepa and Aditya would remain unchanged, but Ranjana would also be accorded the status of the singer’s wife”.

Asked if the arrangement did not violate the law, she said: “Narayan’s two wives had been living under the same arrangement for years. There could have been no better solution at this moment.”

Narayan said after the proceedings: “Samjhauta ho gaya (we have reached an agreement).” He left amid tight security, refusing to speak to the media.

Giri, the woman’s lawyer, said compromise was the best solution.

Ranjana, who stormed a hotel in April where Narayan was staying with the claim that she got married to him in 1984 in Supaul district, today said in a feeble voice: “Jo patni ka adhikar tha, mil gaya (I have got what a wife should have). My fight was for staying together with Udit. I will discuss it with him later.”