Imphal: Champion boxer MC Mary Kom parted ways with K Onler in December 2023 after nearly two decades of marriage and four kids.
Even two years after their divorce, however, the couple continues to trade charges against each other.
After the Olympic bronze-medallist and six-time World champion accused Onler of cheating her out of crores of rupees that she had earned through her boxing career, the latter not only refuted the charge but went a step further to claim that Mary was involved in extramarital affairs.
Onler said their marital issues date back more than a decade, and that Mary was involved in an extramarital relationship with a junior boxer.
Onler added that since 2017, May has been involved with someone associated with the Mary Kom Boxing Academy.
“I will talk about what she told Lok Adalat. Firstly, in 2013, she was having an affair with a junior boxer. Our families had a fight, and after that, we compromised. And since 2017, she’s been having a relationship with someone working at the Mary Kom Boxing Academy. I have their WhatsApp messages as proof. I have proof, with the name of the person with whom she was having an affair. I remained silent,” Onler told news agency IANS.
Onler expressed that he has no objection to Mary Kom moving on, but strongly objected to being publicly blamed.
“She wanted to stay alone and have another relationship. We’re divorced. I don’t mind if she wants to have another husband. But don’t ever blame me. And if she’s to blame me, bring the proof; get the papers. I know where she lives and with whom,” Onler remarked.
On Mary’s claims of financial wrongdoing, Onler said his current living situation contradicts allegations that he possesses large sums of money. “She mentioned the property and asked my name to be erased. She said I stole 5 crores. Check my account.
“For 18 years
of marriage, we were together. And then, this? She’s mad. I had been living with her for 18 years. What am I having? Look at my house. I’m staying in a rented house in Delhi. She’s a celeb. Whatever she says, some will listen, and some won’t.”
Onler said he was deeply hurt by her accusations despite supporting Mary through various phases of her career and personal life.
“I can forgive her, but I’ll never forget what she has done to me. I’m like use and throw for her. Who planted the seeds of her academy? Who registered? And now someone has become the chairman, whom I don’t want to name. What she’s done to me has hurt me… We have been in Delhi since 2013. My sons are in boarding school. Of course, she’s earning and paying the fees, but who has raised them?”
On allegations about his personal habits, Onler said: “Nobody is perfect. She said I consumed alcohol. So has she. She’s had vodka and rum, and she’s also taken ‘gutka’. But I never disclosed these things to the media, who blamed me for drinking. Okay, I drink during parties.”
Mary Kom’s accusations
Onler was responding to Mary’s charges.
“He kept taking loans, mortgaging my property which he transferred in his name. He borrowed money from locals in Churachandpur and to recover it from him, they have seized the land through underground groups,” Mary told PTI.
“Things were fine till I was competing and had very little involvement in my finances but when I got injured before the 2022 Commonwealth Games, I realised I was living a lie. I was bed-ridden for several months, needed a walker after that. It was then that I realised that the man I had trusted was not what I believed him to be. I did not want it to be a spectacle for the world so I sought a divorce after several attempts to resolve it between us.
“I informed my family and his family that it cannot continue and they understood. I was hoping that it would stay private but then a concerted attempt has been made to slander me for the last one year. I thought I would not respond but then my silence was being misread and the attacks kept increasing,” Mary alleged.
The last may not have been heard on the issue. Now that Onler has spoken out, Mary is likely to respond.