Preeti Jain claims that she is innocent and will file an appeal in the Bombay High Court.
Model Preeti Jain and two others were convicted by Mumbai sessions and civil court for allegedly plotting to kill filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar. She had paid Rs 70,000 to underworld-don-turned-politician Arun Gawli’s aide Naresh Pardeshi to get rid of Bhandarkar. Jain who had accused Bhandarkar for sexually exploiting her was arrested in September, 2005. All of them have been granted bail but the court has granted Jain and the other accused four weeks to appeal against the verdict. Preeti nonetheless claimed that she is innocent and will file appeal in the Bombay High Court.
Defending herself Preeti said, “I was convicted for three years in the so-called ‘supari’ matter and immediately released on cash bail of Rs. 15000. I am filing appeal in Bombay High Court. I continue to have faith in Judiciary, God and myself!.”
Earlier Jain had filed complaint with the police alleging that Bhandarkar had sexually exploited her on the pretext of offering her role in his movies. She also produced records of SMS messages sent by the filmmaker to her in this regard. Jain urged the police to arrest Bhandarkar and said that he had cheated her.
After the plan to eliminate Bhandarkar failed Jain had demanded a refund from Gawli. Subsequently, Gawli’s advocate Bagawe had reported this matter to the Mumbai police. The police ordered for a probe into this matter. Later they arrested Preeti while she was on her way to Versova police station and also detained Pardeshi. Pardeshi’s friend Shivram Das too was arrested for arranging weapons and shooters under the Arms Act and have been slapped a fine of â‚ą30,000
Jain has worked in several small budegted movies. She alleged that the national award film maker had raped her several times between 2001 and 2004 on the pretext of marrying her and casting her in his films.
Bhandarkar was directed by a Mumbai metropolitan court to face trial in the case in September 2011. Two months later, the director was granted anticipatory bail.
Bhandarkar reacted to the verdict with a tweet: “Some things are better left unsaid! Some things are better left as they are. Life moves on, so have I.”(sic).
