Rediff On The NeT: When the stars danced to a strange tune

When the stars danced to a strange tune

Suparn Verma in Bombay

On June 12, Nadeem-Shravan performed at the inauguration of Hotel Royal Empire's waterpark, Umm-al-Quwaim, in Dubai. Many film personalities attended the show, which was allegedly sponsored by Vicky Goswami whom the Bombay police describe as a drug trafficker.

Shravan and the other guests who went to the function say they were invited by Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Kasimi, a co-sponsor of the show.

The police began investigating the film world's links with criminals abroad soon after they accused Nadeem of masterminding the killing of music magnate Gulshan Kumar on August 12. Nadeem is also believed to have got the stars to go over to Dubai.

The crime branch started interrogating Bollywood stars who attended the show in Dubai on Wednesday. Actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aditya Pancholi and producer Boney Kapoor were interrogated on Wednesday while actor Chunky Pandey and producer Pahlaj Nihalani were questioned on Thursday morning.

Assistant Commissioner of Police L R Rao, who is part of the team investigating the case, confirmed that Pooja Bhatt, actress and daughter of director Mahesh Bhatt, will be called in for questioning when she returns from England on September 15.

"We just called them for questioning because they had gone to Dubai for the Nadeem-Shravan concert, and we wanted to know the details of the concert. I cannot tell you any further since that could affect our investigations," Rao said.

Fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kasker, his brother Anees, his aide Chhota Shakeel and Goswami attended the concert. One newspaper report claimed Nadeem performed the show gratis in lieu for Gulshan Kumar's liquidation.

Shravan confirms that the organisers did not pay him.

"We performed the show free of cost. Nadeembhai asked me to do it because Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Kasimi was a very close friend of his. We would be doing him a favour. Since he is my partner I trusted his decision enough to not question it." But Shravan claimed he did not know the sheikh and had never met him.

The guest list included personalities from Bombay's film and model world, including Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Jackie Shroff, Pooja Bhatt, Aditya Panscholi, Dipti Bhatnagar, Milind Soman, Chunky Pandey, Malaika Arora, Rakshanda Khan, Deepak Tijori, Atul Agnihotri, Sajid Khan and Boney Kapoor.

"We went in a group of 90 people.... We weren't paid for attending the show; we went there because of Nadeem-Shravan,'' said Bhatnagar. "They paid our airfare and travel expenses... The crowd got a bit rowdy as they kept calling out for Shah Rukh and Salman and other stars, so we went up on stage and waved our hands and said 'hi' and 'bye' to all of them. We left pretty early, by 10.30 pm, because the audience, which was 300, 000 strong, was getting a bit out of hand."

The stage management was conducted by Wizcraft, the wellknown event management agency, which was also in charge of the Independence Day celebrations at Rajpath on the night of August 14.

"We did not send any equipment from our side, just a crew which took care that every thing went off smoothly on the stage.... We did not organise the show; we were approached by the actual organisers, a Bombay concern," a Wizcraft employee said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He, however, refused to name the organiser, claiming that everything was under wraps after the police began investigating the case.

Rao said the crime branch would not reveal the evidence against Nadeem since that could hamper the case. He said that in light of Nadeem's failure to return to Bombay, a warrant was being issued for his arrest. "It was not necessary, but since he is out of India, we did it as a precautionary measure," he said, adding that Nadeem's passport has been revoked. Nadeem has been in London since June 17. His wife is undergoing treatment there following a miscarriage.

Tell us what you think of this report