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Shah charged with underworld ties
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Reuters
MUMBAI: Big-time Indian film financier Bharat Shah was formally
charged on Friday two months after his arrest over suspected
underworld links, police said.
The wealthy
diamond merchant who has financed over 100 Bollywood films,
many of them blockbusters, was taken into custody on January
8 over allegations of links with organised crime.
"Shah
has been charged under sections of the MCOCA (Maharashtra
Control of Organised Crime Act) relating to abetting and conniving
in organised crime and being a member of a gang," joint
crime police commissioner D. Sivanandhan told Reuters.
Shah was
the financial backer of the star-studded Indian film Chori
Chori Chupke Chupke (Stealthily, Secretly), which opened to
packed cinema houses on Friday.
"Shah
will be in jail until the case comes up for trial," he
said but did not give a date for the trial.
Under
the organised crime act, police had up to three months to
file charges.
Also charged
with the same offences were Nazim Hassan Rizvi, producer of
Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, and his assistant.
In addition,
Rizvi and the assistant were charged with conspiracy to murder
leading film director Rakesh Roshan, father of Bollywood heartthrob
Hrithik Roshan, Sivanandhan said.
All three
men have denied any wrongdoing.
Police
said the document outlining the charges against the three
men was 1,800 pages long.
The charges
were filed by Bombay police in the special court that deals
with cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime
Act.
Shah was
taken into custody following Rizvi's arrest in December.
Shah has
repeatedly said that he personally invested over 120 million
rupees ($2.5 million) to make the film.
Sivanandhan
said that 90 witnesses including top Bollywood directors and
stars like Salman Khan, Rani Mukherji and Akshay Kumar had
been questioned during the investigation.
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