Gautam Khanduja, fiancé of model-turned-VJ Nafisa Joseph who ended her life Thursday, has said he had divorced his wife in February last year.

In a signed statement to the media, Khanduja says, "It is incorrect to state that I had not divorced as my divorce had taken place on Feb 10, 2003." There were reports that Nafisa had been upset because Khanduja had refused to show her the divorce papers.

The city-based automobile spare parts exporter said: "The media has speculated on the cause of Nafisa's suicide. I have chosen not to respond to any of these reports that sully the memory of our precious relationship except to say that they are entirely misleading.

"My silence so far has been nothing more than my overwhelming grief at the loss of someone I love so deeply and to whom I was engaged."

Khanduja said: "My privacy has been invaded, my integrity questioned and my family and I have not been given an opportunity to mourn in private."

Meanwhile, police said "temperamental differences" between the couple made Khanduja call off his Aug 7 marriage, prompting the former Miss India to end her life.

"Nafisa would drink and drive and would even turn violent when she was drunk. This led to quarrels between us. Due to these increasing quarrels after our engagement, I thought of the consequences after marriage and decided to call it off." Khanduja told the police during his four-hour-long intensive interrogation on Saturday.

According to police, Khanduja said he and Nafisa were going steady for nearly one and a half years. "We do not doubt Khanduja's statement on Nafisa's drunken driving as there is a complaint registered against her in Versova police station," an official said.

Khanduja is said to have narrated a few instances to describe their relationship to the police.

"Nasifa was upset over his decision to call off the marriage and took the extreme step," the official said.