Nupur Mehta admitted that in 2009 during the T20 World Cup in England, she dated Sri Lanka Cricket player Tillakaratne Dilshan. She has earlier admitted that she has met some international cricketers during her stay in London in one the casinos there.
Nupur Mehta dated Tillakaratne Dilshan
Nupur Mehta claims that she was seeing the Sri Lankan cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan during 2009.
Before that she was denying knowing any of the cricketers. She even threatened to sue the ‘Sunday Times’ for alleging her in the match fixing controversy.
Nupur Mehta told Mail Today over phone, “I was seeing Tillakaratne Dilshan and went to the casino with him but that does not suggest I am involved with match-fixing in cricket. That is my personal life and my relationship cannot be made the basis of such a big allegation. I am a single, attractive girl and have the liberty to move around in any part of the world and interact with whoever I want to.’
She even rebutted having shared a hotel room in London with someone while she stayed at Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.
The newspaper however has earlier claimed that she was living with someone whom she said to be a businessman but was actually a bookie.
Nupur Mehta says, “I was living at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington around the time but I wasn’t sharing a room with anyone. I stayed at the hotel for a few days and paid my own bill at the rate of £500 per day. I have bills to prove my claim.”
She further claims, “All I knew is that several cricketers were living in the same hotel but I did not know who they were. There was no way for me to know even if Sachin Tendulkar was living in the room next to mine.”
Nupur was also asked to tell about the international cricketers she had met at the casino in London. She however denies taking name of them. She rebuked, “I can mention Dilshan’s name because I was seeing him at the time. Why should I drag the names of other cricketers in the whole issue? I had just met them socially.”
Taking a dig at the newspaper report she says, “I have been told they plan to do another story on me and my lifestyle, which is not right. I think this journalist Mazhar Mahmood (who broke the match-fixing story) is in love with me. He has made me famous in more than 16 countries with his report and I have been getting calls from places in South Africa, New Zealand and other countries.”
She is confident that she is clean and hence has no fears. She says, “I have no fear because I am clean. That is the reason I am freely talking to the media. If I was involved, I would have fled the country just like the two bookies whose names have cropped up. Still, it’s amazing how a journalist has cooked up the story.”
But if she has nothing to do with the match fixing, why did she put up in London and that too at the same time when matches were going on and adding to the surprise, in the same hotel where the cricketers were staying. And she replies quickly, “My brother lives in the UK and I often visit the country to meet him. I have worked as a model in several European countries and I often visit London for shopping.”
Nupur wishes that she should be given a clean chit. “They (The Sunday Times) should back their claim with substantial proof. If they claim I was interacting with cricketers to fix matches, why don’t they at least produce my pictures with cricketers as evidence? Why did they use a blurred film still of mine in their report? The picture they used is freely available on Google,” Nupur said.
Nupur has hired two advocates for filing a defamation case against the UK newspaper. A delhi based lawyer firm are to file a case whereas a London based lawyer would sue the newspaper in the Civil Court of London.
Nupur Mehta says, “Their allegations only strengthen my legal case against the paper. They have been discussing my personal life in print despite the fact that it has nothing to do with match-fixing. I will be filing a case because the newspaper has used my picture not once but twice after lifting it off the net.”
Nupur says that England is jealous of India’s performance at the World Cup. She says, “The truth is that England, the country that invented cricket, is ashamed of the fact that it could not perform well in the World Cup. The country lost miserably and now they are cooking up these match-fixing theories.”
Hmm, you have a point, or may be not! What say?
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