A Crime Branch team is set to question again actress Sunny Leone over a cheating case led by a Kerala-based event management company. The bank transactions carried out by her husband Daniel Weber and herself are being verified.
On Wednesday, the Kerala High Court had restrained police from arresting the couple and their employee Sunil Rajani. The court directed the Crime Branch not to arrest the petitioners until they were served notice as per the Criminal Procedure Code 41 (A) which is about notice for appearance before police.
The interim order was issued by Justice Ashok Menon on an anticipatory bail plea moved by Sunny Leone, alias Karenjt Kaur Vohra; Weber; and Sunil. The court while admitting their petition, also issued notice to Shiyaz, who had filed the complaint, on behalf of the firm.
In his complaint, Shiyaz alleged that the actor had failed to attend a function in Kochi in 2019 after accepting payment of around Rs 39 lakh. Leone, who was questioned by the Kochi unit of the Crime Branch on February 3 at Thiruvananthapuram, had stated that she came to know about the registration of the case only when she was summoned. The trio have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including Section 406 on criminal breach of trust and Section 420 on cheating.
They submitted that they have fully cooperated with the officers and appraised them of the true facts and circumstances, handed over documents substantiating the transactions that transpired between them and the complainant.
The accused also submitted that the complainant had demanded Rs 2 crore as compensation from them, had tried to "exploit and cheat the petitioners by compelling them to participate in shows charted by him without paying the agreed consideration".
While the event management organisers had maintained that the former Big Boss contestant had not turned up for their function, Leone stated that she had come twice, but the event was not held.
Though the function had to be postponed several times, it was finally scheduled to be held at Adlux International Convention Centre at Angamaly near Kochi.
Leone reportedly stated that the programme had been rescheduled several times by the organisers and it was not due to her inconvenience and a balance amount of Rs 12 lakh was still due to her.
