The Mumbai Police probing the alleged intimidation and molestation case involving Bollywood actress Preity Zinta by her former industrialist boyfriend Ness Wadia wants to record her statement in person by Thursday.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior police officer told The Hindu that the actress had been informed through her lawyer. “On Monday evening, we sent her a communication through her lawyer asking her to be present in person on Thursday at the Marine Drive police station and record her statement or inform us by the end of the week, a date convenient for her to record her statement,” the police officer said.
The “incident” took place at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium during the final match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament on May 30. Ms. Zinta and Mr. Wadia are co-owners of the IPL team Kings XI Punjab. Ms. Zinta is currently abroad and had lodged a complaint against Mr. Wadia through her lawyer last week.
Another police officer said that her initial statement is missing many details. “In her complaint she has not mentioned the exact location where Mr. Wadia allegedly grabbed her hand and abused her. In her complaint she also states that Mr. Wadia abused the staff members of her team and had used unparliamentary language against her in the ground. Now where on the ground did this happen? Only Ms. Zinta can elaborate,” he said.
The Mumbai police have also written to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the team, Fraser Castellino, to record his statement. They have also sought assistance from BCCI officials and IPL CEO Sundar Raman in the case.
“We have sought the list of the hospitality staff members of the team who were present at the time of the incident. We have also asked BCCI to share the CCTV footage of the owner’s box and the ground where Ms. Zinta went after the match got over. We have also asked them to help us with the name of the official with whom Ms. Zinta lodged a verbal complaint of the incident,” the police officer said.
The police are also examining Ms. Zinta’s mail exchanges with Mr. Wadia to ascertain if they had any heated exchanges in the past. “This is to verify if the alleged altercation was trigged by any past episode,” he added.
