Nagma ka nagma
Topic: Underworld
NEWS
Who is the Nagma in the gutka storm?
Two actors, both from Tamil films, both with ties to Bandra (and Chennai), both furiously denying links to don Dawood's brother Anees. Over to the CBI.
Express News Service
Mumbai, February 19: Abhinetri Nagma Anees ki rakhail hai, ye mujhe maloom hai. Anees ne ek bar uske liye bhi hawala ke dus lakh rupiye mere pas bheje the, woh maine usko diye (Actor Nagma is Anees mistress, this I know. Once Anees had also sent to me hawala money of Rs 10 lakh for her. I gave that to her).
That was the sentence buried in the confession of Jamiruddin Rasool Ansari (alias Jumbo)--an 18-page confession his lawyer now says was given under duress--that sparked off a storm of denials from two Nagmas.
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Now in the custody of the Mumbai police, Ansari is alleged to be a key link in the case of the mafia links of gutka barons Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal and J M Joshi, both now evading arrest warrants and Interpol alerts somewhere in Dubai.
Ansari (36), who owns a sea-facing flat in Mahim, said he had delivered the Rs 10 lakh to actor Nagma in Bandra in 2000.
The problem is both the Nagmas have--or had--ties to Bandra, and both are actors.
Only the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has now taken over the case will be able to decide which one is the Nagma named by Jumbo.
In advance of those investigations, both the Nagmas are strenuously denying their involvement.
The more well-known of the duo is the oomphy Tamil star, once linked with Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly. The Congress hastily pulled Nagma--her real name is Namrata Sadhana--from campaign duty after the confession became public last week.
A furious Nagma said it was a case of mistaken identity, she had never met Anees (Dawood's elder brother), and the confession referred to another Nagma from Bandra, whose mother Tabassum was arrested for arms possession in 2000.
But on Friday night, the Nagma she blamed surfaced in a phone call to Newsline from Chennai.
``I've unnecessarily been pulled into this controversy,'' said Nagma Tabassum Khan. ``I am based in Chennai, how can anybody link me (to the confession) when I have not been to Bandra for five years?''
Khan said: ``The last time I was in Bandra was when I was 14 years old, studying in Mount Mary boarding school. I used to live with my mother in Versova. My mother, Tabassum, left India in 2000, and she is presently in London.''
Police sources confirmed that Tabassum had been arrested from Versova, something her daughter--who moved to Chennai after acting in only one Hindi movie, Boond--did not deny.
Nagma had a reverse journey: she moved to Mumbai after achieving fame in Chennai. She pointed to her address as defence. ``I don't stay in Carter Road (where Jumbo said he delivered Rs 10 lakh), Bandra. I stay at Mount Mary, Bandra.''
The money and the Nagma question will be just one of the many tangential questions that the CBI will now have to examine.
The Mumbai Police have been accused of going slow in the entire case, including not questioning Nagma or anyone else named in the confession since it was given to Deputy Commissioner of Police Amitabh Gupta in October 2004.
Gutka man Joshi emerged last week to give a television interview from Dubai in which he accused former partner Dhariwal of dragging him into dealings with Dawood.
Both the barons are accused of having supplied gutka-making machinery to Dawood's operation. Dawood's gutka brand Fire is a rage in Pakistan.
Posted by Mahesh
at 11:42 PM EST