Preeti Sapru is blatantly lying – Beyond Bollywood

The CINTAA General Secretary dismisses Sapru’s claim of Deepak Kejriwal and him seeking a sanction of Rs5 lakh from Executive Committee as means to squash Sapru’s FIR against them in a personal case that also involves disgraced member Darshan Jariwala.

By Mayur Lookhar

Cine Artist Welfare Trust chairperson Priti Sapru Walia had earlier made some strong claims against CINTAA General Secretary Amit Behl and Sr. Vice President Deepak Qazir Kejriwal. Barely 24 hours later, the CINTAA General Secretary has dismissed her claims.

“This entire thing is a joke,” lamented Behl. He was to quick to rubbish talk of cops demanding Rs5 lakh from them to squash Priti’s FIR against the quartet of Darshan Jariwala, Kejriwal, a Kolkata-based journalist, and him.

“Do you really think that such a thing can be mentioned or even spoken of in an EC meeting? Anything to be given to police was never ever discussed. This is something which is absolutely bizarre. It’s one of the most blatant lies I’ve ever heard. The truth will be out in the EGM, which will take place around 8-10 April,” Behl said in a firm tone.

The CINTAA General Secretary clarified that Kejriwal and him and have merely followed the law in filing of anticipatory bail and moving the court to seek a squash order of the FIR. He iterated how the duo were never the creators of the alleged defamatory chat involving Darshan Jariwala and the Kolkata-based journalist. The latter has accused the former of rape, unnatural sex, and cheating. Besides, Jariwala allegedly used disparaging words against Sapru, and few CINTAA members. The CAWT chairperson was irked by the content of the personal chat making its way on social media, thereby defaming her.

Behl, however, questioned the timing of Sapru’s complaint.

He says, “It’s a private chat. Somebody posted on social media. We have nothing to do with it. It started with derogatory comments against four people. Priti ji didn’t react when there were derogatory comments about the EC. She didn’t react when there were derogatory comments against Manoj Joshi, Deepak ji or myself. Nor when it was about a political party and its leader. The moment it was about her, she went and filed an FIR.”

“We went to the police station, a senior officer said that there is no case against me. If she wants to save Darshan, that is her personal call. She is trying to save him, and make Deepak ji and me the scapegoat in a collateral damage. It doesn’t make sense. This is like someone else committing a crime, but others are made to suffer,” added Behl.

Meanwhile, The Kashmir Files [2022] actor came clear on the issue of meagre pension. Sapru had cited the example of struggling veteran Rehana Sultan to slam the current CINTAA office bearers.

“It is such a facade. She is not even aware that CINTAA has been giving money to Rehana ji for a long time,” said Behl. The CINTAA General Secretary agreed with Sapru that the pension amount was less, but reminded her that CINTAA doesn’t have any Corpus Fund.

As for spending Rs6 lakhs on a PPT presentation, Behl harped on its importance.

“The CSR corpus video idea was mine. We will get our CSR certificate soon. CINTAA, however, isn’t merely looking at CSR funds,” he says, “We have prepared an appeal video showing all the activities that CINTAA has done for the welfare of its members. It’s been scripted and directed by Vinta Nanda and Vibhav Rao, two veterans. We’re not just appealing to corporates, but also to NGOs, charitable organizations, We want to create a 24×7 helpline for suicide, anxieties and other such stuff. During Covid, we realized that our hands were tied. CINTAA is doing all this to benefit the trust.”

Behl is stunned by Sapru’s media talks, after all, these funds will be disbursed through a trust (CAWT), of which she is the chairperson.

The CINTA General Secretary acknowledged the efforts of Sapru in getting certain governmental clearances, waivers. All possible due to her strong political connections. He, however, reminded that even other members do their best, with Tinaa Ghaai playing an active role in helping out Sultan over the years.

“There is an e-mail list each time we helped Rehana ji. Tinaa Ghaai placed an active role in raising funds when Rehana ji was unwell. However, it doesn’t look nice to talk about such work. We’re all doing social service. It’s an honorary task that we have taken,” said Behl.

Behl closed his points by saying, “Nine years and we never washed dirty linen in public. What will be the image of CINTAA in front of everyone, especially our predecessors, who had worked a lot to build this image.”