Sonakshi Sinha among five booked for cheating event organiser
Moradabad (UP), Feb 24: Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha and four others have been booked for allegedly cheating an event organiser here, police officials said Sunday.
However, Sinha's management agency, in a statement, alleged that the event organiser was using the media to release "false and manipulated" information, and she would be "forced" to take legal action.
The case was registered against the actress and the others under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections pertaining to cheating and criminal breach of trust, police said.
In a complaint on November 24 last year, an event organiser, Pramod Sharma, had alleged that he paid Rs 24 lakh to a company to invite Sinha for a prize distribution function in Delhi and that the actress had confirmed her presence, but did not turn up, the officials said.
The complainant, a resident of Shivpuri in Moradabad, said in total, he paid Rs 37 lakh, which included transferring a huge amount to Sinha, according to police.
Sinha's management agency has denied the charge, saying despite repeated reminders, the organiser failed to make payments to the actress before the event as contracted.
"The investigating officer in the case had served a notice to Sinha and the four others, but after not getting a response an FIR was registered on Friday," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Moradabad, Ravindra Gaud, said.
He said among the four others are Mumbai residents Abhishek, Malvika Dhumil and Edgar.
The case has been registered at the Katghar police station.
Station House Officer, Katghar, Ajeet Singh said the case was registered under section 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code.
The investigation in the case has started, he said.
In the statement, the agency said, "Sonakshi was approached by the event organisers in Delhi to attend an event. However, despite repeated reminders, the organiser failed to make the payments to Sonakshi before the event as contracted."
"The tickets to Delhi were not in order/as were agreed, the organiser also didn't send return tickets for Sonakshi and her team, despite knowing that she had a shoot the next morning after the event.This put everyone in a tough spot," it said.
Several attempts were made to contact the organiser to request him to make the "contracted payments and send the tickets, however, they remained incommunicado and didn't live up to their end of the bargain", Sinha's management agency claimed.
Due to a lack of commitment by the organiser, the actress and her team were left with no choice but to return home from the Mumbai airport, according to the statement.
"Ever since that day, Sonakshi's management agency has been trying to reach out to the organiser to find an amicable solution to the extent of offering an alternate date and tried to connect but to no avail.
"The organiser is now using the media to release false and manipulated facts. If the organiser doesn't stop at this, Sonakshi and her team will be forced to take a legal course of action to set this straight. We request media to not let anyone use their platform without looking into the facts," the statement read.
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Baramati plane crash: Rohit Pawar alleges attempts to shield VSR Ventures
Mumbai (PTI): NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday alleged that someone was trying to save VSR Ventures in connection with the plane crash that killed Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, and claimed that the AAIB preliminary probe vindicated the doubts earlier raised by him.
He also accused VSR company of indulging in several grave lapses in the past.
The Learjet 45 aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures, crashed near the Baramati air strip in Pune district on January 28, killing Pawar and four others.
In its 22-page preliminary report on the VSR Venture's Learjet plane crash, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the visibility at the time of the crash was below the required level. It also flagged about fading marks on the runway and presence of loose gravels on the runway surface.
Pawar said, "I am not against VSR or the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Ajitdada was travelling in a VSR aircraft. Unless we go into the depth of every aspect, we will not know the truth. But someone is trying to save this company. The doubts we had raised have been proven correct in the inquiry report."
He also claimed that the AAIB report contained discrepancies, including mentioning Baramati as a district, and questioned how seriously the probe had been conducted.
Pawar, who has been regularly holding press conferences to raise issues concerning the Baramati plane crash, also contested the report's conclusion that the aircraft hit trees before crashing.
"The report says the aircraft struck trees and then fell. But there are no trees at that spot. There is only a small bush which the aircraft did not even touch. What is stated in the report about hitting trees is incorrect," he said.
Pawar further alleged that VSR Ventures had displayed irresponsibility on multiple occasions, citing an incident involving the then chief minister Eknath Shinde's Davos visit on January 20, 2023.
He claimed that the aircraft carrying Shinde had entered Iranian and Iraqi airspace without overflight permission, following which fighter jets from the two countries allegedly warned of action, forcing a change in route from Bahrain to Zurich.
"There have been several such grave lapses by VSR," he said.
Pawar demanded to know from where VSR Ventures derived its "audacity", and sought details about its investors and officials, though he added that he was not personally concerned with who they were.
Drawing a comparison, he said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had taken over the probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death within two days, whereas a month had passed since the Baramati crash without a similar action.
He claimed that VSR Ventures had two directors and three shareholders, and that there were eight common names across two related companies.
He further alleged that the owner of VSR was related to the Union Civil Aviation Minister and questioned why the company, though registered in Delhi, had made high-value investments in Jubilee Hills (upscale area in Hyderabad) at rates allegedly Rs 17 crore above the market price.
The MLA representing the Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district also raised concerns about the legal and institutional framework of the AAIB under the 2017 rules, claiming it was neither a statutory nor an autonomous body and remained answerable to the secretary and the minister, besides being attached to the DGCA.
"There is no independent investigative agency," he alleged.
