Sunny Leone has refuted cheating claims levelled against her, saying that half-baked information is as dangerous as misreporting. On her part, she has alleged lack of timely payment in the concerned deal.
Last week, Sunny was questioned by Kerala Police at a private resort in Thiruvananthapuram. The interrogation was conducted following a complaint filed by an events manager in Kochi in an alleged cheating case.
R. Shiyas, who conducts events in and around Kochi, had filed a complaint with the Kerala DGP alleging that Sunny had taken Rs 29 lakh from him while promising to attend various inaugural functions in the state but failed to do so. The case is related to a 2019 event.
She has now accused the events organiser for sharing incorrect information, and hopes that law will take its course.
"Half information is as dangerous as misreporting. And this is yet another case of the same. I want to set the record straight," Sunny said.
"As an artiste, work is worship for me. I was nothing but gracious, understanding even moving my schedule multiple times over the organisers. But they wouldn't commit to a set date. It is customary that to lock an actor's time, an advance has to be paid upfront, which wasn't done till the nth hour," she continued.
There's absolutely no chance that if I have set a date and time for an event, I wouldn't show up," Sunny added.
"But due to a lack of timely payment from their end coupled with the fact that they dilly-dallied on finalising the date, I bowed out. I have other commitments in Poovar. These are testing times and we have been shooting round the clock, putting ourselves at risk, to make sure the industry is back on its feet. Such slanderous claims and unethical behaviour on part of the event co-ordinators are deeply hurtful and unsolicited. I have already given the statement to the investigating officers and they are investigating the co-ordinators as well. Let law take its course," she further said.
Sunny is currently in Thiruvananthapuram district, where she is shooting for the new season of "MTV Splitsvilla".
According to a source, the event "was constantly getting rescheduled, eventually clashing with her other work engagements".
"Moreover, the fees never paid in its entirety. Rs 12.50 lakh, which was to be paid seven days before the event as per the agreement, is yet to be cleared. She, however, has graciously agreed to attend the event if it matches her schedule," claimed the source.
The source also claimed that there were around five other celebrities who backed out from the event due to similar experience with the organisers, which is currently being investigated.
Watch this space for more updates.