In an exclusive chat to a leading portal, complainant Vaibhav Gupta who has accused Bollywood actor Zareen Khan of cheating and defrauding him, has now gone on record to state that he incurred a loss of ₹42 lakhs, while arranging an event attendance for her in 2018.
This update arises a day after the Kolkata police has issued an arrest warrant against the Hate Story 3 actor. Gupta shares, “Not only the money, I also lost my reputation and business for the last 5 years due to her wrong allegations and statements levelled at me".
Gupta is a representative of the concerned Mumbai-based event management company that had organised Khan's visit to inaugrate about 6 pandals during the Durga Puja festivities in Kolkata. However, owing to an unwarranted dispute with Gupta, the actress did not arrive in the city of joy to fulfil her commitment.
Gupta also told the portal that he paid an advance sum of ₹12 lakhs to the actress' team. He had also made prior arrangements for her stay at a five-star hotel, a private car-on-rent and other requisites, which eventually costed him upto ₹42 lakhs.
What could turn possibly worse in Khan's case, Gupta also shared a call recording of an apparent conversation between them where the actress levelled threats against him, following his official complaint. The conversation goes, “Agar main bandh karwa ke nahi rahi to mera naam Zareen nahi, tum dekho. Yeh jo kaam tumne kiya hain na aaj, tumhare sath koi kam nahin karega. Mere paas sab proof hain.” (If I don’t shut down your business, my name is no longer Zareen. No one will work with you after what you have done. I have all the proof.)
In her defense, Khan has maintained that she refused to attend the event, following miscommunication over flight tickets and other arrangements and after she was misled into believing that the pandals were likely to witness attendance by eminent political figures including the presence of Hon. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Gupta refuted the charges.
Khan had filed a case against Gupta and his company at local court earlier. Following an investigation, a chargesheet was issued against the actress and her manager. While her manager duly appeared and secured bail, Khan neither sought bail nor appeared before the court. This led to the Kolkata court issuing an arrest warrant against the actress on Sunday. While Gupta maintains faith in the law, Khan's lawyer is willing to contest the case based on merit.
