The Mumbai crime branch on Monday grilled a city-based casting director who had sent emails, containing pictures and profiles of aspiring models and actresses, to S. Sreesanth who was arrested by the Delhi police for his alleged involvement in the spot-fixing case.
The director claims that he had sent the pictures of the models for an ad film to be shot for the cricketer’s Hyderabad-based company.
However, the police is not buying these claims on face value and is exploring whether the girls were not used as a conduit to lure players for the spot-fixing.
Joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy on Monday confirmed, “We have recorded the statement of the casting director who had sent emails to S. Sreesanth. The Lokhandwala-based casting directors had sent emails containing pictures of dozens of wannabe actor-models to S. Sreesanth.”
The police has found these emails in the cricketer’s laptops. But when he was grilled, he in his statement claimed that the pictures were meant for the ad film of Sreesanth’s company, S36.
“The company manufactures T-shirts, mineral water and other products. It is co-owned by Sreesanth and a Hyderabad-based film producer who is well-known in the film industry down south,” said an officer, requesting anonymity.
The police on Monday also recorded the statement of the manager of Kerala-based Tamarind Tours and Travels Ltd, which made the bookings for the two rooms in the five-star hotel located at BKC for Sreesanth and his friend bookie Jiju Janardhanan’s stay.
Sources say that the bookings were made on the instruction of Janardhanan. The bookings were made for three days and they ran up a total bill of `58,000.