The private life of sporting icon Mary Kom has taken a shocking turn as her ex-husband, Karung Onkholer, has fired back against her recent accusations of financial fraud and leaving her bankrupt. While Mary Kom recently broke her silence to claim she had been “living a lie,” alleging that Onkholer mismanaged her earnings and mortgaged her properties without her knowledge, Onkholer is now making new claims.
Getting defensive, the former footballer claimed that their 18-year marriage was actually rooted in infidelity, alleging that the boxing legend had multiple affairs.
Onkholer claims he stayed silent for years to protect their family, but decided to speak out after being accused of theft. “I will talk about what she told Lok Adalat. Firstly, in 2013, she was having an affair with a junior boxer. 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,” he stated.
He pushed back against the idea that he had stolen from her, pointing to his current lifestyle as evidence. “She said I stole 5 crores. Check my account… Look at my house.” Challenging her to produce legal evidence, he added, “If the property is in my name, then she’d have the documents, right? Let her bring those documents, and then we’ll speak.”
This bitter exchange comes after Mary Kom’s revelation to PTI, where she described the pain of discovering her financial situation while recovering from a major injury. “I have been called greedy by people who know nothing about what I went through,” she shared, explaining that she only realized the extent of the trouble when she was bedridden before the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“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.” She alleged that Onkholer had been slandering her for a year and had put her assets at risk, stating, “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.”
While Mary Kom is maintaining that she is a victim of financial abuse, Onkholer has been clear that his actions were not criminal and that he was the one left heartbroken.