Ghosts of showdown with Preity Zinta return to haunt Ness Wadia

If a top officer is to be believed, the Mumbai Police are soon going to record a statement of industrialist Ness Wadia for allegedly abusing actor Preity Zinta in 2014.

“We are going to record Ness Wadia’s statement soon,” an officer associated with the investigation into the case, told India Today.

Zinta had filed a complaint with the Marine Drive police station in this regard but the investigation had not moved further until now.

But now, the police are going to take action after Zinta recorded her statement in a court under section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). This section has a provision to chargesheet a person for perjury if he/she makes false statement in the court. In other words, Zinta cannot backtrack on her complaint against Wadia.

“We didn’t take any action against Wadia because we hoped that the duo will bury their differences and will patch up. However, since Zinta is firm on her stand that she was abused and tortured, we will go ahead with recording statement of the accused (Wadia),” the officer said.

According to a source with the police, Wadia had agreed to Zinta’s demand of giving a written apology for his “misconduct” but he was not accepting that his conduct was intentional. Wadia had insisted that he would apologise if something had taken place out of “misunderstanding”. Zinta had taken a strong objection to the word “misunderstanding” as she felt that there was nothing like this. Two efficient officers, Rakesh Maria and Ahmad Javed, governed the city police after the incident. However, they had failed to record Wadia’s statement. The present Commissioner, Datta Padsalgikar, is keen on re-investigating the case as the police’s mediocre work in this case has brought a bad name to the force.

The case dates back to May 30, 2014 when Zinta and Wadia had a fight over front-row seats of the Indian Premiere League (IPL) match between their team Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede Stadium. Wadia had insisted that the seats be given to him.

Zinta on June 13, 2014 had filed a complaint against Wadia accusing him of molestation, threats and abuse. She also had stated that Wadia threatened to make her disappear by using his powerful political connections.