Padmini Kolhapure and Poonam Dhillon. Pic via Instgaram
Amid the ongoing dispute within the Cine and TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA), the matter has now seemingly escalaed with new allegations emerging against former president Poonam Dhillon and former vice-president Padmini Kolhapure. Actor and former CINTAA member Upasana Singh claiming that a police complaint has been filed against the two.
While speaking exclusively to Hindustan Times, Upasana claimed that Dhillon and Kolhapure were trying to "take out CINTAA documents in a tempo" in a now viral video. She called it an "illegal" way of dealing with the ongoing matter.
Upasana stated that the incident came to light after an actor, passing by the CINTAA office, saw Dhillon and Kolhapure removing documents and other belongings from the premises and alerted her. "An actor who was passing by called me and told me what was happening. I immediately reached there and called the police. That is when everything happened," she shared.
Upasana further alleged that the development comes after a CINTAA member had earlier raised concerns over irregularities in the association's documents and asked for a forensic investigation. "A CINTAA member had raised concerns about irregularities in the documents and demanded a forensic jaanch. He felt that something was not right with them. After that, today I got to know that Padmini and Poonam were taking out CINTAA documents in a tempo," she says.
Upasana added that she and others tried to tell the police that Dhillon and Kolhapure could not enter the CINTAA premises after the elections were approved. "We were trying to explain to the police that they [Poonam and Padmini] can't even enter the CINTAA premises now that the elections have been approved. Taking the documents is an illegal move to cover their tracks," she revealed.
According to Upasana, a police complaint has since been filed at the Versova police station. Further questioning the attempt to move the documents, she said, "We have filed a police complaint. The elections will happen tomo. There is surely something that they are trying to hide. If everything was fine, why would they try to take out these documents?"
Notably, the crisis in the film body intensified in August after 11 members submitted a joint resignation, including eight elected executive committee members. They alleged that key decisions were being taken by Padmini and Poonam without adequate consultation with the executive committee.
Following the incident, Dhillon rejected the allegations, calling the accusations offensive. Meanwhile, CINTAA also disputed claims surrounding the dissolution of its executive committee.
