Ness Wadia abused me three times, says Preity Zinta

In a statement to police, she names 14 witnesses

June 25, 2014 01:44 am | Updated November 16, 2021 06:53 pm IST - MUMBAI:

Actor Preity Zinta arrives at BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Actor Preity Zinta arrives at BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Actor Preity Zinta on Tuesday recorded her statement before the Mumbai police, giving details of her alleged molestation and intimidation at the hands of her former boyfriend Ness Wadia on May 30.

She named 14 people who she claims witnessed the incidents of abuse at Wankhede stadium, police sources said. Among them is the minor son of a recently retired star cricketer.

Other witnesses include staff members of the IPL Team Kings XI Punjab which she co-owned with Mr. Wadia.

Narrating the sequence of events, the actor told the police that Mr. Wadia was abusing the team staff over ticket distribution when she was seated below the air-conditioned box in the Garware Pavilion. She asked him to calm down as their team was winning. However, she alleged that >Mr. Wadia abused her and even molested her by grabbing her arm. A foreign national who is related to a team member had to intervene to calm the situation, she told the police. The foreign national threatened to hit Mr.Wadia if he continued to misbehave with her, Ms. Zinta claimed.

Ms. Zinta says she then changed her seat and sat next to her friend Danish Merchant in the non-air-conditioned row located below near the railing. She identified this as the second location where she was verbally abused by Mr. Wadia.

She said he abused her for the third time on the ground in front of her team members. While the actor was able to identify the exact spot, she was not able to pinpoint the team members who witnessed the incident, a senior police officer told The Hindu .

Witnessed by friends The alleged molestation and abuse were also witnessed by Mr. Wadia’s friends, who were seated in the row located below the air-conditioned box, she told the police.

“Ms. Zinta recorded her subsequent statement with us on Wednesday. The new people named in the statement will now be summoned and their statements will be recorded in due course,” Additional Commissioner of Police Krishna Prakash told The Hindu .

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.