Mumbai police file chargesheet in Chrisann Pereira drugs case

The Mumbai police Wednesday filed a 1,514-page chargesheet in the actor Chrisann Pereira drugs case. The actor was allegedly framed by one Anthony Paul in a drug trafficking case and arrested in Sharjah in April. Apart from her, Paul reportedly framed Mumbai-based DJ Clayton Rodrigues, who is still lodged in a Sharjah prison. Pereira was acquitted and is likely to return to Mumbai this week An officer said that three people – Borivali-based bakery owner, his friend and accomplice Rajesh Borate, and a man who provided them with drugs to frame people – have been named as accused. Statements from 20 witnesses have been recorded in the case.The Mumbai police crime branch arrested Paul and Borate in April after it came to light that Paul had tried to exact ‘revenge’ on five people by sending them to Sharjah with articles laced with drugs.  Among the five, Rodrigues and Pereira were the only people who were caught with drugs.

In the case of Pereira, Borate, at the behest of Paul, pretended to be a casting agent and sent her to Sharjah for an exhibition. He, however, handed her a trophy to be given to someone in Sharjah and hid drugs in it. Pereira was arrested by the Sharjah police and spent over three weeks behind bars. In the case of Rodrigues, Paul was upset with him over a comment he made when both their families had gone on a trip to a farmhouse last year, the police said.In January this year, Borate on Paul’s instructions allegedly posed as an event manager and called up Rodrigues and offered him a job at an event in Sharjah. As he was about to fly to Sharjah on February 6, Borate gave him a cake that had drugs hidden in it.As per the probe by the Mumbai Police crime branch, Paul then called up the Sharjah airport authorities and tipped them off about Rodrigues carrying drugs in a cake. When the police checked the cake box, they found drugs in it along with a note saying “he had more drugs if anyone needed it”. Following this, Rodrigues was arrested by the Sharjah airport police and since then he has been lodged at the Sharjah prison. He was convicted by a Sharjah court for 25 years and the family has appealed his conviction.