Court issues arrest warrants against Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia

Chandigarh:

A local court on Saturday issued arrest warrants against IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab co-owners actress Preity Zinta and industrialists Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman for failing to appear before it on a complaint accusing them of not filing its balance sheets and annual returns.

The bailable warrants were issued by Chief Judicial Magistrate J S Sidhu after neither the three co-owners nor their counsels appeared before the court on a complaint filed by the Registrar of Companies (ROC) here.

The court later adjourned the case till October 4.

However, Zinta denied any warrant being issued. "No summons had been served on me by the CJM Chandigarh with regards to appearing in any court case against me today. I have since learnt that no arrest warrants have been issued in my name. My legal team is looking further into the matter," she said.

The court had in April issued notice to the four co-owners of KXIP and fixed July 24 as the next date of hearing.

The prosecution submitted that the co-owners of the company had tried to conceal the financial position of KPH Dreams, which owns KXIP, from the public by not filing the balance sheets and annual returns.

In our complaint, "we had submitted that the Mohali franchise had not filed any annual return and balance sheet since it came into existence," Gaurav Hooda, counsel for the ROC, said on Saturday.

Karan Paul had sought exemption from personal appearance on Saturday on medical grounds and his plea was accepted by the court.

However, he was directed to appear in person on the next date of hearing.

(With PTI inputs)