Chennai, 7 Aug

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's wife Sangeetha on Friday withdrew her petition filed before a family court at Chengelpattu near here seeking divorce.

Sangeetha appeared before the court through video-conferencing when her plea was taken up, and she submitted the reasons for not pursuing her case, months after filing the plea.

Accordingly, the court disposed of her petition as withdrawn, official court sources said.

In her divorce petition filed earlier, Sangeetha had accused her husband of having an extra-marital relationship with an actress and that he had subjected her to "persistent mental cruelty, neglect and desertion". If required, she said she would implead the actress as second respondent.

The marriage had broken down irretrievably, she said in her plea filed under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 seeking divorce.

Since 2021, the respondent (Vijay) has "emotionally withdrawn," treated the petitioner with verbal disdain and subjected her to "constructive desertion, forcing her to live separately within the matrimonial home."

The marriage between Sangeetha and Vijay, a top notch movie star who has since wound up his career to focus in politics, was first registered on 10 July, 1998 in the United Kingdom. Thereafter, a ceremonial marriage was performed on 25 August, 1999 in Chennai, according to the petition.