I was framed, says acquitted actress Padma

CHENNAI: Actress Padma Narayan has been celebrating her victory since Wednesday evening after the Alandur Magistrate court acquitted her in a case in which she was accused of blackmailing a businessman with the help of three friends.

Ever since she was arrested by the Alandur police from a jewellery shop on Cathedral Road on July 30, 2007, 26-year-old Padma has been going through hell as she was allegedly not allowed to speak the truth as the case was pending in court.

So, the court verdict, which came after most of the witnesses turned hostile and the complainant, Pradip Koneru, accepted that he had filed a false complaint with the police, brought her the relief and happiness that she had been looking for after exactly two years.

The media had then carried details based on the complaint filed by Pradip, which were all proved to be false during the police investigation and court trial, Padma says.

Pradip and Padma had been friends for a long time and the relationship was rather intimate, she says. After a successful stint in modelling, Padma got a break in Kollywood and she immersed herself in shooting for different films. In the meantime, she distanced herself from Pradip as she realised that his business involved some shady activities.

But Pradip did not let her go. He caught up with her at a shooting site and demanded that she start living with him. He wanted her to leave her home and career and assured to compensate her monetarily. Padma declined his offer saying that she was into films for fame and recognition and not money.

However, he invited her for a birthday party at the Park Hotel. It was in a suite he had booked for himself that he clandestinely shot some videos when they were ‘intimate’. Padma says that she had gone to his room for one last meeting with Pradip and when she was leaving, he showed the video recording and threatened to go to the media if she did not agree to live as his concubine.

That led to a heated argument and Pradip slapped her, besides using abusive language. That moment was captured in a mobile phone camera by Padma’s friend, Sanjay, who had accompanied her to the party.

Then Padma and Sanjay showed Pradip the visuals in the camera and told him that he would be in jail for assaulting a woman if they chose to go to the police.

She also threatened to go the media and the film council with the recording.  

Padma claims that Pradip then wanted to swap the recordings both of them had with each other and also compensate her.

He promised to pay Rs five lakh in cash and buy her jewellery worth Rs five lakh. So he asked her to meet him at jewellery shop, where she was picked up by the police.