Panscholi grilled, Tarannum gets used to jail food
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Posted online: Monday, September 19, 2005 at 0111 hours IST Updated: Monday, September 19, 2005 at 1015 hours IST
September 18: How many times have you been to Deepa Bar? Who went with you to the bar? Do you know Tarannum? How many times have you met Tarannum? Have you bet on cricket? Did you know that Tarannum used to bet on cricket?
These were just some of the questions that actor Aditya Panscholi had to reply to when he was grilled for more than three hours by Unit III of the Mumbai Crime Branch.
The police are investigating Panscholi’s involvement in the Tarannum-cricket betting saga.
The actor, who arrived at the N M Joshi Marg office in a Lexus on Sunday evening, was asked if he had ever seen bookie DJ in Deepa Bar and if he knew DJ personally.
The police also made him verify his statements to the media. Panscholi had earlier said that he had taken Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan to Deepa bar last year, but denied having introduced him to Tarannum.
Panscholi had earlier been summoned for interrogation on Friday but he stayed away, allegedly to avoid the media.
According to police sources, on Saturday, he went to Delhi on an Air Sahara flight and returned on Sunday when Unit III officials asked him to.
Former bar girl Tarannum—she’s in police custody in a cell in the Nagpada women’s lock-up—was also brought to the Crime Branch Unit III at around 4 pm.
On the second day since her remand, Tarannum—fair with a flawless complexion, her hair tied in a plait—was accompanied by three women constables and a man in civilian clothes.
Investigating Officer Assistant Commissioner of Police R K Rathore refused comment, saying he wasn’t authorised to speak.
Meanwhile, though Tarannum’s lawyer Prakash Shetty told Newsline that the court had given permission to provide her with homemade food, the Nagpada police denied this.
‘‘She’s eating the same food as other prisoners: Rice and pav and tea two times a day, morning and evening,’’ said a police constable.
