If former MLA Ashok Vir Vikram Singh, who has been arrested in connection with the murder of his grandniece, is called Bhaiyya Raja, his supporters say he has earned the title. In Bundelkhand, a combination of his caste, muscle power and money has helped the former MLA call the shots. Touching 60, he has lost none of that clout. Singh’s influence spans across Chhatarpur and Panna districts, where he deals in land. When he bids for collection of tendu leaves, other contractors are known to back out.

His first wife Asha Rani, the BJP MLA from Bijawar, bore him four daughters. He married again, reportedly in the hope of a son. The second wife would bear two sons, and it’s the elder one who is being linked to the murder of 21-year-old Vasundhara Bundela, the daughter of Singh’s niece. Bundela’s mother accused Singh of the murder.

Bundela incidentally is a distant relative of Jitendra Singh Bundela, the BJP MP from Khajuraho whom the party had preferred this time for a ticket in place of Singh. Hailing from Chhatarpur, Bundela stayed in a girl’s hostel in Bhopal but used to frequent Singh’s house there.

Like her husband, Asha Rani too has blamed political rivals for his arrest. She said the allegation that one of Singh’s sons had impregnated the victim was baseless. Bundela recently had an abortion in Indore.

After the BJP denied him a ticket in the Lok Sabha elections from Khajuraho, preferring Jitendra Singh Bundela instead, Singh hadn’t hesitated to campaign for the Congress nominee. Incidentally, just months ago, his first wife Asha Rani had won the 2008 Assembly elections on a BJP ticket.