Preity-Ness case: Four new witnesses support Wadia

These witnesses are Nicholas Chen, Saumitra Srivastava, Rustom Lawyer and his wife Gia, official sources said on Thursday.

The Lawyer couple - Rustom and Gia - told the police on Wednesday that during the match they were seated in the 4th row of Garware Pavilion block where the incident, alleged by Preity, occurred.

Wadia came with his family 15 minutes after the match started. But his mother and nephew had to keep standing for about 15 minutes as there were no seats available.

Later, two aisle seats in the third row were vacated which they occupied and after another few minutes, they got seats in the first row.

After this, Wadia went to Preity and had a brief talk with her but neither of them seemed upset and both continued to watch the match and cheered for their team.

Chen said that since Wadia's mother and nephew did not have seats, he vacated his two seats after which Wadia went to ask the Kings XI team staff why no seats were reserved for his family.

After 10 minutes, the staff arranged for two seats in the front row right aisle, following which Chen returned to his original seat.

Subsequently, Wadia and Preity had a short conversation and later he proceeded up the stairs.

"The conversation lasted about a minute and never during the conversation did I see Ness (Wadia) abuse, shout, touch or grab Zinta's hand...Later on, during the match half-time, Zinta came to the AC box, where we were also present, and even spoke to Ness's sister-in-law and her children," Chen's statement said.

Srivastava said he wished Wadia on his birthday and though he had a ticket for a seat, he watched the match standing in the aisle as no seat was available.

He also noticed Wadia and his family without a seat and then saw him having a conversation with Preity.

"I could not hear what they said nor did it look anything more than a normal conversation so I didn't pay any attention," Srivastava said in his testimony to the investigators.

In the past couple of months, four other witnesses have also testified in favour of Wadia at different times to the Mumbai police.

They are Nimish Mahintura, Pooja Dadlani, Farah Oomerbhoy and Sawan Daru.

Wadia had provided a list of nine witnesses to the police in the incident during the Kings XI versus Chennai Super Kings IPL match here.

Besides, police have also questioned several of the 14 witnesses listed by Preity, but are yet to question Wadia in the matter.

Preity on June 12 had accused Wadia of abusing her publicly and manhandling her.

Wadia responded by dismissing the allegations as "totally false and baseless."

Source:Latest News from India News

S Africa denies visa to Dalai Lama third time

The Dalai Lama's representative in South Africa, Nangsa Choedon, said that Department of International Relations and Co-operation officials had informed her over phone that the Tibetan spiritual leader would not be granted a visa.
  
"For now the Dalai Lama has decided to cancel his trip to South Africa," Choedon said.
  
Choedon, however, said that her office was yet to receive a written confirmation from the South African Government.
  
She said the Dalai Lama, who lives in India, had applied for visa in New Delhi on August 27.
  
The summit, an annual gathering, is being held in Cape Town for the first time with the arrangements being made by a local organising committee formed by foundations representing four South African peace laureates -- Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, FW de Klerk and Albert Luthuli.
  
The refusal could provoke a boycott of the 14th annual peace summit to be held from October 13 to 15 as some Nobel Peace Laureates have told Tutu they will not come if the Dalai Lama is not permitted to enter the country.
  
"I have heard that if the Dalai Lama is not allowed into the country, other invited guests have said they will not come," Tutu's spokesman Roger Friedman was quoted as saying by an English news website.
  
Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille, who is to host the event, said she had instructed city officials to write to the government to establish whether the Dalai Lama had been denied a visa.
  
"We have not heard from them yet, but I will not give up hope that our government will not humiliate the Dalai Lama again," De Lille said.
  
China accuses the Dalai Lama of campaigning for Tibet's independence and regularly uses its economic and political might to put pressure on governments around the world to prevent contacts with him.
  
It is the third time in five years that 79-year-old Dalai Lama had to cancel his visit to South Africa because of a failure to secure a visa.
  
In 2009, a peace conference in Johannesburg, arranged to highlight the World Cup in South Africa, was cancelled because the Dalai Lama was refused a visa.
  
In 2011, the Dalai Lama cancelled his visit to Tutu virtually on the eve of his departure, saying he had failed to get a response to his visa application.

Source:Latest News from World News