D K Panda

After grabbing headlines and dancing across TV screens in late 2005, Debendra Kishore Panda, better known as Doosri Radha, has settled down to a quiet life of prayer in Allahabad. Of the days when the media would be eager to record his every move, he says, “It was in the past. I don’t think of it now.”

A 1971 batch IPS officer, Panda was IG (Rules and Manuals) in Lucknow when he blazed into public consciousness for turning up in office wearing bangles, a nose pin, vermilion, and claiming to have been married to Lord Krishna. This was much to the chagrin of his earthly wife Veena, and two adult sons. Panda’s wife subsequently divorced him.  His department too found him guilty of breaching the police dress code But before things could reach a boil, Panda, who was due to retire in 2007, resigned. The former cop claims he has been alone, meditating, and has little to do with his family since then. His phone remains switched off at most times, and he addresses himself in the feminine gender.

When he finally spoke after days of being elusive, it was to say that he has little to do with “lowly, worldly pursuits” such as a weekly news magazine. “I talk only of the Lord, to the Lord,” he declared. He also let in that he has many devotees who. “find me when they have to.”

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