PATNA: He was six times lucky, but finally the charm broke and Chhotu got caught. The 50-year-old’s secret was busted on Tuesday, when he confessed that he had married six times, and had been dividing his time between his wives – at different locations in the country.
The native of Jawatari village in Jamui district of Bihar, who works in an orchestra group in Jharkhand’s Deoghar town, apparently got married during his visits to the various locations for performances.
Chhotu was caught when his fourth wife’s brother spotted him with another woman at Jamui railway station. When his brother-in-law, Vikas, questioned the woman about her identity, she told him she was Chhotu’s wife. Vikas then informed his other family members, and they took Chhotu to the railway police station.
The Railway police treated it as a family matter and let Chhotu go after taking a pledge from him that he would appear at the police station whenever required. “He was released on personal bond,” a police officer posted at the Jamui GRP said.
Chhotu told the police that his first two marriages were arranged by his family, to women from Chimberia and Sundartand, respectively, when he was a teenager. He then married out of his own choice in 2011, when he met one Kalawati Devi in Ranchi. The couple has four children. Next, he married Manju Devi in 2018, and has two children from the relationship. Kalawati came to know that her husband had married a second time, but kept quiet for the sake of the family.
Kavia Devi, her mother, said Chhotu had left home for buying medicines for his ailing child but never returned. “He has been living with another woman after leaving my daughter and her child with us for the last one-and-a-half years. We looked for him anxiously as he had not reached his native village either,” she lamented.
After he was caught and brought to the railway police, he revealed that his fourth wife belongs to Sangrampur, while the next two are from Delhi and Deoghar, respectively. “He is obsessed with his wives. He married a girl wherever he performed at cultural events in Bihar and other states,” an officer who questioned Chhotu said.