Actor framed in drug case in UAE: Man trapped her to extract revenge, say cops

A probe into the case of an actor who was trapped with a hidden drug consignment in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates has found that the man who sent her was in contact with a law enforcement personnel there and would tip him off on those he intended to frame, a Mumbai police official said on Friday.

Actor Chrisann Pereira (27) was arrested at Sharjah airport on April 1 with a small quantity of drugs allegedly planted inside a trophy by two men identified as Ravi Bobate and Anthony Paul, who had sent her to the Gulf on the pretext of a role in a web series.

The two men then sought Rs 80 lakh to get Pereira released but her mother approached Mumbai police, which booked Bobate and Paul for cheating.

Speaking about the probe so far, the official said Paul wanted to take revenge as he had an altercation with Pereira's mother over a dog as well as wearing a mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

''He takes revenge on people he has had arguments with by getting them trapped in this manner. Once she took a flight to Sharjah, Paul tipped off the law enforcement official he was in touch with and got her arrested,'' he said.

''Incidentally, Chrisann was out of the frisking zone of the airport when she found this trophy in her bag. She first threw it in a dustbin but then changed her mind and handed it over to the police there as suggested by her mother. This is corroborated by CCTV footage from the area,'' the official said.

Based on documents and details sent by Mumbai Crime Branch, the Sharjah police realised Pereira was innocent and did not oppose her bail, he added.

''A hearing of her case is expected on Monday after which she will be allowed to leave for India,'' he said.

Her parents, meanwhile, met senior Crime Branch officials at the police commissionerate in Crawford Market in south Mumbai on Friday, he said.

''The police is probing four cases in which people may have been framed in this manner after they landed in Sharjah. The statement of Falyn Rodrigues, the wife of DJ Clayton Rodrigues, who has been lodged in a Sharjah prison since February in a drugs case, has been recorded,'' the official said.

Police are examining whether to register a separate case in this matter or clubbing it with the actor's case, the official added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)