Zinta case: Sony cameras too didn"t capture "manhandling"

In another disappointment for the Marine Drive police investigating the case filed by actor Preity Zinta against former boyfriend and business tycoon Ness Wadia, the footage from IPL’s official broadcaster Sony drew a blank. None of Sony’s cameras captured the alleged manhandling on May 30 during an IPL match. This comes after examining the footage from the surveillance cameras at the Wankhede Stadium, which also couldn’t produce any clue regarding the “manhandling”.

“The footage from Sony reached us after the copyright and the video formatting issues were worked out. But none of them have recorded the incident at the Garware Pavilion where the spat between Preity and Ness allegedly took place. There are several small clips, each around 15 to 20 seconds long. Sony has told us that their cameras were largely focused on the stadium and only turned towards the spectator stands for covering an important or interesting event there,” said an officer.

Sony had positioned 19 cameras at the stadium. Examination of the seven CCTV cameras at the VIP box and the Garware Pavilion too did not yield any results. The police is also in the process of contacting Preity’s guest Parul Khanna, sports journalist Shailesh Gupta, King’s XI Punjab ticket distribution staffer Tara and Preity’s American friend Jean who the actress claims were direct witnesses to the incident.

According to Preity, US-based Jean had intervened during Ness’s spat with the actress and also warned Ness against harming her. Until now, statements of eight persons including BCCI honorary secretary Sanjay Patel, IPC chief operating officer Sundar Raman, other officials, friends and staff have been recorded.

Zinta case: Sony cameras too didn"t capture "manhandling"