Orissa High Court on Thursday granted divorce to Kendrapara’s BJD MP and popular Odia actor Anubhav Mohanty and his actress wife Varsha Priyadarshini.

Anubhav and Varsha are the most popular couple in Odia cinema with a large fan following. The couple tied the knot in February 2014.

The marital discord began in less than six years. The MP filed a divorce petition in a Delhi court in 2020 alleging that there was no physical intimacy between the couple. Later, the case was shifted to the family court in Cuttack following the direction of the Supreme Court in March 2021. Varsha had also filed a domestic violence case against Anubhav in a court in Cuttack.

On September 22, the family court rejected Anubhav’s petition seeking a divorce. Later Anubhav moved the high court challenging the family court’s order. However, the high court set aside the ruling of the Cuttack family court that had earlier rejected Anubhav’s petition. The family court had also turned down the plea for restitution of conjugal rights filed by Varsha.

The main grievance of Mohanty was the non-consummation of marriage. “Our main grievance was the non-consummation of marriage. Denial of conjugal rights amounts to cruelty. Considering the plea and taking into account the evidence, the high court allowed the divorce of the couple. There was no ruling on alimony,” said Anubhav’s counsel Lalitendu Mishra.

Anubhav had served as one of the star campaigners of the BJD in the 2014 and 2019 elections.