Omar Abdullah's estranged wife Payal Abdullah seeks maintenance of Rs 15 lakh

NEW DELHI: Payal Abdullah, the estranged wife of former Jammu & Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah, has moved a city court seeking maintenance of Rs 15 lakh from him, claiming that she and their children have been rendered "homeless" and "penniless" after their eviction from the government accommodation at Lutyens' Delhi.

Payal's petition comes barely a month after a Delhi high court order through which she and her sons were evicted from the J&K government's (type VIII) bungalow on Akbar Road. Insisting that Omar be directed to provide her Rs 10 lakh monthly maintenance for herself and her two sons and Rs 5 lakh for a new accommodation, Payal said she and and her children are Z and Z+ category security protectees but the eviction has made them vulnerable to security threats.

The plea states that Payal and the children are living a "life of nomads", "shuttling between the house of friends" and are "at the mercy of Payal's aged parents".

Payal's lawyer Jayant K Sud said that family court judge Arun Kumar Arya has issued a notice to Omar seeking his reply on her plea and the matter has now been fixed for hearing on October 27.

Payal has claimed that she has "suffered a lot of torture and harassment" because of Omar and has requested the court to direct Omar to give her compensation on that account and for allegedly tarnishing her public image.Payal has also referred to the divorce petition filed by Omar, saying his "unreasonable withdrawal" from matrimony on "absolutely unjustifiable grounds" caused her immense emotional distress.

On August 30, Omar's plea seeking divorce from Payal was rejected by a trial court which said that Omar failed to prove that she had committed "cruelty" upon him and that there was an "irretrievable breakdown of the marriage". Payal stated that she always contributed her best to uphold the institution of marriage and "iswas never interested in separation". She further said that Omar has "neglected" her and their children since 2013 and refused to "maintain them in any form despite having sufficient means to do so" . The couple had married on September 8, 1994.