As investigation continues in allegations made by one Jayesh Sinha against Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta, accusing them of swindling money, no direct involvement of the couple has been found in the case, police officials said.
According to sources, Jayesh had given Rs8 lakhs to officials of Ubqool Futuretech Pvt ltd in 2013 for acquiring franchise of the Mumbai-based company in Ranchi and Jamshedpur. Ubqool works in the field of digital education for primary to secondary students of CBSE and ICSE schools. Juhi is a Director as well as brand ambassador of the firm, and her husband Jay is one of its founding members.
“Although Juhi Chawla is associated with the company as a brand ambassador, whether that makes her liable for actions of its officials remains to be seen. We will seek legal opinion on this angle,” said Kuldeep Dwivedi, Senior Superintendent of Police, Ranchi.
Jayesh was contacted by Choudhary Ambika Prasad Das, one of Ubqool directors and company’s Marketing Head Apoorva Manhot, who told him that the company wants to work in the field of digital education in Jharkhand through its franchise.
He had given then Rs2 lakhs each for supporting his claim as a franchise owner and Rs4 lakhs as security deposit, sources said. Several demonstration sessions for the students were also hosted by Ubqool.
later, Jayesh found that company’s website is out of order. Following this, Jayant asked the company to begin their work in Jharkhand. In return, he was told that the company has no plans to expand to Jharkhand in recent future.
As per sources, when Jayesh asked for his money back, he was assured in the beginning that the sum will be returned shortly but he was later denied any refunds. It was then that Jayesh filed a case in court regarding this matter in May, 2015.
later on court’s order, a named First Information Report was then filed in lalpur police station against seven officeholders of Ubqool. They have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), sources said.
“Based on the investigation so far, perpetrators used Juhi Chawla’s name to cheat Jayesh. She does not seem to be involved in this case at any level. We are looking into the case and the culprits will be apprehended,” stated lalpur Officer in-Charge.
Meanwhile, the SSP rejected reports of a police team from Ranchi going to Mumbai to investigate the case.