Indian actress denies cricket scandal allegations

Bollywood actress Nupur Mehta considered taking legal action after her photograph appeared alongside reports that an actress was used to entice players into a cricket match-fixing scam.
“I’m very much hassled and mentally traumatised. I never thought my name would crop up in these kind of allegations when I have nothing to do with it. I have no relation with it,” she told reporters in Mumbai (The Telegraph).
“Yes I am a cricket lover as most of us are. It’s a religion in our country. I like to see most of the matches, and not only cricket I love all kinds of sports for that matter. I love football. I love tennis.
“I have no clue why my name is being tossed up with these allegations,” she added.
The controversy started after The Sunday Times allegedly filmed bookmakers boasting about being able to ‘fix’ international cricket matches. A photograph of Mehta taken from her 2005 film ‘Jo Bole So Nihaal’ accompanied The Sunday Times report.
According to bookies, women are commonly used in this scam, as a method of extracting information from players.
“A bookie’s face is known to the cops and people in the cricketing world, so we use B and C-grade Bollywood actresses to reach cricketers. They work on the cricketers’ likes and dislikes by bribing staff carrying drinks to cricketers on the field, or at times even the hotel staff where the team is staying. Accordingly, we plan the package for them,” a bookie told The Times of India.
Another added, “It is very easy to lure cricketers by using an actress. Often women – especially girls from the glamour field – are used to fix a cricketer’s price and pass on the money. Cricketers don’t hold secrets from a girl who is drinking with them. She plays the crucial role of the messenger for the man who is trying to fix the game.”
Meanwhile, Mehta continues to angrily deny the allegations that she was involved in the scandal.
“I don’t have anything to do with all this at all, or any relationship with cricketers. If such allegations are being made, they’re completely baseless. If there is any evidence, or if I am supposed to be a culprit, then they should print my pictures that can prove the linkages. I think this is just a prank, a mischief played by some of my non-admirers. It’s just a bad publicity stunt on me. More than me, I think we are talking of world-class cricketers, world-level celebrities, and we should not doubt their integrity. If this gets too much, or if they (the paper) expose my face or take my name, I am going to sue them (for using my picture without proper evidence). I will definitely remain in India, I am not a culprit, and I am not going to run away” (The Times of India).