Four witnesses deny argument between Ness Wadia and Preity Zinta

Four more witnesses listed by industrialist Ness Wadia, accused of molesting, abusing Bollywood actress Preity Zinta during an IPL match on May 30 at Wankhede Stadium, testified before the investigators. The quartet denied about witnessing any arguments between the estranged couple, police officials said yesterday.

Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia. File Pic

The statements of four witnesses Rustom Lawyer, his wife Gia, Nicholas Chen and Saumitra Srivastava who were present in the stadium on May 30, were recorded yesterday, an officer from Marine Drive police station said. None of the four corroborated Zinta's claims that Wadia had misbehaved with her before abusing and threatening her, the police said.

Officials told, Lawyer, a senior corporate professional, said, "During the match, Ness went up to Preity and had a short conversation with her. Then we (Lawyer and his wife Gia) saw Ness walk away. We could not hear the conversation due to the loud noise in the stadium. Neither Ness nor Preity seemed upset after their brief conversation and continued watching the match and cheering for their team. Not at any moment did anything appear out of the ordinary."

Gia's testimony was also on the lines of her husband and denied witnessing any sort of disagreement or heated exchange of words between Preity and Ness, the officer said. Businessman Chen claimed, "Never during the conversation between the two, did I see Ness abuse, shout and touch or grab Zinta's hand."