NEW DELHI: Actor Rayya Labib while reacting to the murder of ex-model Divya Pahuja claimed that Pahuja loved to live life in the fast lane and she was arrogant, hot-headed and would snap at others at the drop of a hat.

“While we were struggling for work and shoots, she wanted to make it big at any cost and mint money even if it meant crossing the yellow line,” Rayya who had worked on some modeling assignments with Pahuja in Delhi about eight years ago, said. Pahuja was a model before she was arrested for her involvement in the murder of a gangster, who was killed by the Haryana police in Mumbai in a fake encounter, at the behest of another rival gangster.

Former model and murder accused Divya Pahuja was found dead in a Gurugram hotel on Tuesday (January 2). CCTV footage from the hotel’s surveillance system where the model was allegedly killed showed the suspects, including the hotel owner, dragging the body before stuffing it in the trunk of a BMW car.

According to media reports, the former model was found dead, allegedly killed by a Gurugram hotel owner Abhijeet Singh. CCTV grabs captured disturbing scenes as the suspects dragged her body and dumped it in a BMW car before fleeing.

Divya was the girlfriend of slain gangster Sandeep Gadoli, who was killed in a controversial encounter in 2016 in a hotel in Mumbai. Divya was the prime accused in the case, along with her mother and some Haryana cops, was granted bail by the Bombay High Court after spending nearly seven years in prison. Divya’s parents and family have claimed it’s Gadoli’s men who committed the crime as revenge, but hotelier Abhijeet Singh who was arrested told the cops during investigation that Divya was extorting money from him and he killed her in a fit of rage, after a fight regarding some personal photos, which Divya was blackmailing him with and extorting money from him.

Rayya has claimed that Divya was a wild one and would do anything to make money. “The allegations of extortion against her by the hotel owner are quite possible and it’s not surprising that she got into trouble again within months of being released from Byculla jail in Mumbai after seven years,” Rayya told this website.

MUMBAI: In a significant development, the cute, talented and bubbly 21-year-old actor Saba Ali Khan who has done several regional movies particularly in the South (Tamil and Telugu) and Bhojpuri is now once again back with a bang with a new mega project in her bag.

She has been signed on by director Maneesh F Singh for a movie inspired by the sensational and horrific murder story of Shraddha Walkar – who was murdered (and her body cut up into several pieces) by her live-in boyfriend Aftab Poonawala.

While Singh refused to share any details about the project, sources said its a mega-budget film and the estimated spend is around Rs 350 to Rs 400 crore. Singh’s production house Vrindaavan Films had announced the movie a year ago, but it hit a roadblock after a court threw a spanner into the making of the movie script. Now with all permissions and approvals in place, Singh is all set to take his project to the ultimate conclusion and begin shooting for the project next month.

Coming back to Saba Ali Khan, she is not new to controversy. The actress who has done hundreds of music videos, besides films, left a lucrative and flourishing career to get married to a businessman – something which was widely reported in the press.

However, what was not mentioned or covered later on was the fact that the actress divorced after less than 10 days of her marriage in very depressing circumstances; and while she has refused to speak about it, her close friend revealed that Saba was trapped in a Love Jihad-like situation with a fanatic man who lied to her from day one.

Luckily, her parents and family supported her completely and she was able to get a divorce and is now back to work. According to director Maneesh F Singh, “when I heard about Saba Ali Khan’s situation and divorce, I immediately decided to sign her on as the main lead for my movie, which is inspired by the gruesome and dastardly murder of Shraddha Walkar that stunned the nation last year.”

For those who came in late, Singh had announced the movie last year, but was forced to put it on the back-burner after a case was filed about the privacy rights of the murder accused Aftab Poonawala. Now with the stay lifted and the case dismissed, Singh will start shooting the movie after Diwali next month, he said, adding that Saba Ali Khan has been signed on in the main lead role for the project. He however refused to reveal the name of the film, saying that he will speak to the media at the right time.

MUMBAI: Director and producer Maneesh F Singh who is making a film on the shocking Shraddha Walkar murder case that stunned the entire nation last year, Saturday announced that the story, script and screenplay was ready and finalised and the film will hit the floors very soon.

It will be shot in Mumbai, Delhi and other parts of Maharashtra, where the main characters of the film, the victim Shraddha Walkar and her boyfriend Aftab Poonawala travelled.

In November last year, Singh had said that he had started work on the script for a film inspired by the murder of Shraddha Walkar by her own live-in boyfriend Aftab Amin Poonawalla.

At that time Singh told this reporter his film will cover all aspects of the gruesome murder, including the ‘love jihaad’ angle.

He had instructed his team to start work on the project and the entire team of Vrindaavan Films was on the job, since November. ”The working title of the project is “Who killed Shraddha Walkar?,” Singh revealed.

MUMBAI: Actor Rayya Labib who was present at the club at Vile Parle in suburban Mumbai, when a nasty argument took place between social media influencer Sapna Gill and batsman Prithvi Shaw had earlier said that it was Sapna Gill who instigated and caused the fight. “She is completely to blame for what happened, it seems this was pre-planned,” Rayya said.

“I had said the same thing two days earlier. I was present at the venue when the incident took place. Now the Oshiwara police have got hold of a video clip from the hotel where Gill is heard asking her accomplices Shobhit Thakur (21) and six others allegedly to get a baseball bat, knife, and other weapons to attack the cricketer and his friends. In fact, even Shobit Thakur’s mother told the police that it was Gill who provided Thakur and others with alcohol, making them drunk. Thakur’s mother has also blamed Gill. This is her modus operandi. She preys on celebrities like Shaw or other businessmen and blackmails them. I said this two days earlier and now the police have found evidence in this regard and have added Section 387 of the IPC to the case,” Rayya Labib said in a statement issued today.

Adding that Sapna Gill has tried to blackmail businessmen in the past, Rayya said that the police must investigate all other angles.

“This is a professional blackmail job. Her friends tried to manhandle Shaw even inside the restaurant. They literally pulled him and tried to click videos with him which angered him. They knew he was having a private dinner with his friends, they do this to others and then demand money from them,” Rayya Labib alleged.

MUMBAI: Even as the Andheri magistrate’s court in suburban Mumbai, Friday remanded social media influencer Sapna Gill to police custody till February 20 for allegedly manhandling Indian cricketer Prithvi Shaw and attacking his car, following a row over clicking of selfies, actor Rayya Labib alleged that Gill wanted to file a molestation case against Shaw and extort money from him.

“Gill told the court (when she was produced for remand) that Shaw hit her on her chest and arms. She is trying to make out a case of molestation and assault against Shaw by alleging that she was touched violently on her breasts. This is when she herself tried to extort money from the cricketer,” Rayya Labib who saw the commotion at the restaurant with her own eyes, told this reporter. According to Rayya, Gill and her cronies were trying to trap Shaw in a fake case and extort money, but they were no match for the long arm of the law.

Two more persons have been detained in the case by the Oshiwara police and are likely to be arrested tonight. The cops are questioning them to ascertain their involvement in the extortion and physical abuse matter.

Gill’s lawyer has stated that she is the real victim and that she was manhandled and pushed about by Shaw and his friends.

The police also invoked Indian Penal Code section 387 (putting a person in fear of death or of grievous hurt in order to commit extortion) against Gill and added the criminal section to the original charges of rioting and extortion.

The alleged incident had taken place early Wednesday morning outside a luxury hotel in suburban Santacruz. Based on a complaint lodged by Shaw’s friend and flatmate Ashish Yadav, Oshiwara Police registered a case against Gill, her friend Sohbit Thakur and six others under Indian Penal Code sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 148 (rioting), 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation).

Gill, the only arrested accused in the case, was produced before a magistrate court. During the remand hearing, police said the co-accused in the case were absconding. They have applied or trying to apply for anticipatory bail, it is learnt.

The investigating officer told the court that Thakur and Gill approached Shaw for a selfie at the hotel. Initially, the cricketer obliged them. But when they insisted on clicking more selfies, he declined, after which Gill and Thakur started misbehaving with the cricketer, he alleged.

The hotel manager intervened and asked Gill and Thakur to leave premises.

Shaw and his friend Yadav then had dinner at the hotel. When they were stepping out of the place along with Shaw’s another friend, they saw Thakur standing outside with a baseball bat in hand, the official told the court, citing Yadav’s complaint.

After they sat in their car, the accused attacked its windshield with the baseball bat. Shaw was also manhandled by Gill. Sensing more trouble, the cricketer was shifted to another car while Yadav and others drove his vehicle to Oshiwara, the IO told the magistrate.

Yadav then saw three motorcycles and a white car chasing their vehicle. Around 4 am, those following him attacked his car when it was taking a U-turn near a petrol pump on Link Road. Thakur, who was one of them, broke the rear windshield with the baseball bat, the IO said.

The six persons on the motorcycles along with Gill and Thakur who were in another car abused Yadav, the IO added.

Yadav then took the car to Oshiwara police station. The eight accused also followed them there. Gill demanded that Yadav pay Rs 50,000 to settle the matter or else she would lodge a false police complaint against them, the investigating officer said.

Opposing the police’s remand plea, Gill’s lawyer Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh said Gill was the victim and not the cricketer.

She should have been filing the case against the cricketer, but he used his “muscle power”, the lawyer alleged.

Gill too addressed the court directly, stating that all the allegations against her were false and ”he (Shaw) hit me on the chest and arms.” On the claim that the incident took place after she asked for a selfie with Shaw, Gill said, ”I do not know him, nor I have ever seen him. I never asked for a selfie with him.” She also accused Shaw of being inebriated.

Metropolitan magistrate, Andheri court, C P Kashid after hearing both the sides remanded Gill in police custody.

MUMBAI: In the ‘selfie’ attack case, actor Rayya Labib has spoken up in support of cricketer Prithvi Shaw, saying she saw some persons troubling the cricketer at the restaurant.

“Later on the same persons who were removed from the premises by the bouncers and security were seen standing outside along witb others and one of them was holding a baseball bat in his hand,” Rayya explained.

According to her, she was at the same place at Barrel Mansion club at Vile Parle East near the Santacruz domestic airport and was almost leaving, when she saw some commotion happening and shouting and noticed that a woman and one more person was hassling cricketer Prithvi Shaw.

“I did not recognize Sapna Gill at first as I do not know her. I was in a hurry and was leaving the venue, so I do not know what happened after that and the car chase and assault on the road and all. I believe Sapna Gill should not have troubled Shaw for the selfies. This is wrong. I know that some influencers will do crazy things to make reels and take photos and selfies and I am sure whatever happened was somewhere started by Gill and her friends. They should have left Shaw alone and apologized and left,” Rayya said adding that it was Sapna Gill and her group that started the commotion and fight in the first place.

“Shaw and his group did not first approach Sapna or her friends, it was the other way around. Her friends were actually trying to shoot reels or videos with the cricketer, which angered him as he was having a private dinner with his group,” Rayya revealed.

According to media reports, social media influencer Sapna Gill was on Thursday arrested by the Mumbai Police (Oshiwara Police station), after a case of rioting, criminal intimidation and extortion was registered against her and seven others for allegedly attacking Indian cricketer Prithvi Shaw’s car with a baseball following an argument over taking selfies with him outside a luxury hotel at Santacruz.

According to reports, Sapna Gill’s medical was completed after the arrest and she will be produced in court on Friday.

The Oshiwara police in suburban Mumbai registered a case against the eight accused including Sapna Gill under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 148 (rioting), 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and others.

Meanwhile, in a new development, Gill’s lawyer has filed a counter-complaint against Shaw alleging that in fact it was his client who was attacked by Shaw and his friends and not the other way round.

MUMBAI, (PTI): A special investigation team will be set up to probe the murder of journalist Shashikant Warishe in Ratnagiri district earlier this week, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday.

Warishe (48) was mowed down by an SUV allegedly driven by land dealer Pandharinath Amberkar on February 6 and died in hospital the next day.

Amberkar, arrested for murder, allegedly used to threaten any person who opposed land acquisition for a proposed refinery in the area.

An article written by Warishe against Amberkar had appeared in a local Marathi newspaper on the morning of the incident, which took place near a petrol pump in Rajapur, some 440 kilometres from Mumbai.

A statement released from Fadnavis’ office said the police administration in the state has been directed to set up the SIT.

The SIT will be headed by a high-ranking official, the statement from the Deputy CM’s office said.

Journalists in Mumbai had protested near Mantralaya on Friday and had sought the formation of an SIT as well as slapping of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, (ANI0: A woman wanted in 23 high profile cases of cheating and fraud including Gurugram-Manesar industrial model township land grab scam has been arrested from Mumbai, Delhi Crime Branch said on Sunday.

Ravinder Singh Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) said that the arrested woman has been identified Sona Bansal, who is the wife of Atul Bansal.

“She was wanted in 23 cases of cheating registered in Delhi and Haryana by various Law Enforcement Central and State Agencies,” said Yadav. “The arrest was made on the basis of the inputs received through sources,” Yadav added.

The ARSC team of the Crime Branch conducted the raid at a high-end society in Mumbai and arrested the accused, Sona Bansal, from there. Her husband, Atul Bansal, was however not found there and his whereabouts are being ascertained, officials said.

According to Crime Branch officials, both the accused are natives of Delhi but they had been residing in Mumbai with the assumed identities of Mrs Sulochana and Arun Gupta prepared on fake and forged documents.

Officials said that the accused, Atul Bansal and his wife Sona Bansal, were wanted in several high-profile white-collar economic crimes, including the ‘Gurugram-Manesar Industrial Model Township Land Grab Scam’ amounting to Rs 1500 crore, stated the Crime Branch official.

According to Special CP Yadav, both were the directors of the builder firm named after their son ‘Aditya Build Well (ABW) Infrastructure Limited’.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) had initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered at Manesar police station, Gurugram and thereafter investigation was taken up by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), against the alleged accused including unknown public servants of Haryana Government and other individuals, affirmed the Crime Branch official.

Several alleged persons including Atul Bansal and his wife Sona Bansal of ABW Infrastructure Limited were charge-sheeted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), confirmed the Crime Branch.

The officials said that the ED found in its probe that the builders/private entities grabbed the land from farmers and landholders at nominal rates by instilling in them the fear of acquisition of their land.

Believing the accused and under the fear of losing their land to an acquisition, the farmers and landholders sold their lands to such private entities, who ultimately sold the same to various builders, who obtained licences and gained handsome profits in a fraudulent manner, stated the officials.

Special CP Yadav confirmed that most of the land parcels were purchased by ABW Infrastructure Ltd. group, which was controlled by Atul Bansal, Sona Bansal and others. After obtaining licenses, A.B.W. Infrastructure Limited further sold the licensed/unlicensed lands and building licences to some private persons/developers and thereby earned windfall profits.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also registered a criminal case against the accused persons in September 2015 following allegations that private builders, in collusion with some public servants of the Haryana government, had bought around 400 acres of land from farmers and land-owners of different villages in Gurugram district at throwaway prices, stated the official. At that time, the land was valued at around Rs 1,600 crores, but the same was bought by the alleged builders for around Rs 100 crores only, officials said.

Officials informed that the accused were declared PO in the said case by CBI Panchkula Court in April 2018. During interrogation, she has taken the alibi that her husband Atul Bansal has recently expired, which is being verified as there is neither any proof of the same nor could she produce any document regarding his death, revealed the Crime Branch.

Apart from this land scam, the firm also did not deliver any of its projects to buyers, situated in Delhi/NCR, added the official. In this regard, multiple cases of cheating were registered against ABW Infrastructure Limited, said the official.
According to the Crime Branch officials, multiple cases are being investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police and accused Atul Bansal and Sona Bansal were also declared PO in all these cases.

Sona Bansal was one of the directors of the real-estate firm namely ABW Infrastructure Ltd., Saket District Centre, Saket, Delhi, they said. The officials claimed that the fugitive couple was in the process to flee abroad to evade arrest and escape forever from the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) and the criminal justice system.

A cash reward of Rs 50,000 was also declared by Delhi Police on her arrest as she and her husband Atul Bansal had been declared ‘Proclaimed Offenders’ in many cases, officials added. (ANI)