Woman claims she was Rajesh Khanna's live-in partner, wants house and compensation

July 21, 2012

rj1

Mumbai, July 21: The fight for Rajesh Khanna's legacy began even before his death. On Tuesday, a day before the superstar passed away, his family was handed a shocker — a woman in her 50s sent a legal notice to the actor claiming that she was his live-in partner and sought compensation, a house to stay and a monthly maintenance. Anita Advani, in her notice to Khanna, claimed that she had been restrained from entering the actor's Carter Road bungalow Aashirwad since June this year.

Noted advocate Mridula Kadam, who is representing Anita, confirmed that a legal notice had been sent to Khanna on July 16, which was received at Aashirwad the following day. While Akshay Kumar and the Khanna family were unavailable for comment, Ashwin Thakkar, who was the late actor's business manager, refuted Anita's claims. "The claims that she was living with Khanna are false. There were many people who used to meet him at his house. She was one of them, but certainly not what she claims today."

Sources from the industry said that they had seen Anita at Rajesh Khanna's residence and that she used to accompany the actor to people's offices. She would visit Khanna when he was in the hospital, sources said, but was prevented from boarding the truck that was carrying his mortal remains on the day of the funeral.


rj2Anita told TOI: "I am not interested in Aashirwad. I just want it to be converted into a museum as that was Rajesh Khanna's dream. I want to ask them (his family) where were they when he needed them. I looked after him all these years. I lived in that house, took care of him and all his needs. The reason I am asking for compensation is because they stripped me of everything. My man is gone and I am left with nothing."

In her notice, Anita claims she was 13 years old when she met Khanna at his residence for the first time. Over the years they used to bump into each other at parties till the relationship got serious over a decade ago. The notice claims that Khanna told Anita he was in love with her and promised to take care of her. They had been living together for the last 10 years, claims the notice till she was restrained by Khanna from entering the house in June 2012. The notice further claims she was not given an opportunity to even take her belongings and all her possessions are lying in Aashirwad.

"She is a single lady who devoted the last 10 years to take care of Khanna and discharged all the duties of a wife," legal sources said. "She was under the impression that he was single. Khanna promised to take care of her and now she has been left with nowhere to go to."

Not much is known about Anita, except reports that she was a resident of Bandra and runs a business. There were unverified reports that she was the niece of former Philippines President Ferdinand Emmanuel Marcos.

The notice does not mention the Domestic Violence Act (DVA), but legal sources add that a live-in partner is mentioned for the first time under Indian laws in that piece of legislation which was enacted in 2005. Though no physical violence is alleged, the notice hints at mental trauma at being evicted from the house.

Legal experts say Anita will have to prove her claims. "The DVA is a radical piece of legislation that for the first time mentions a live-in partner. Till then no woman had any right to claim maintenance unless she was married to the man. If a woman claims that she was a live-in partner she will have to prove that she lived in the shared household," said lawyer R T Lalwani, who deals in family court matters.

With Khanna's death it would have to be seen if action is maintainable against his relatives, though the DVA proceedings can be initiated by a woman against other relatives too. "The law is evolving and the courts are trying to fine-tune it," said Lalwani.

In 2010 the apex court had ruled that a female live-in partner can claim maintenance only if the relationship meets certain conditions and does not amount just to a one-night stand or a few weekends together. The conditions rule out maintenance if either live-in partner was married to someone else at the time of the relationship. The conditions are that the couple should have presented themselves before society as akin to man and wife; they should have lived together under one roof and in a "shared household" for a significant period; they must have attained the legal age to marry; and they must have been eligible to marry. A petition for maintenance by a live-in partner is pending before a larger bench of the Supreme Court

Khanna was still married to Dimple Kapadia and this could make things difficult for Anita. However, sources close to Anita insist that she was under the impression that he was single.



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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: After donating to UNICEF to combat COVID-19, actor Kareena Kapoor Khan on Thursday announced that she will also contribute to PM-CARES Fund and Maharashtra's CM Relief Fund along with her husband Saif Ali Khan and son Taimur Ali Khan.

Kareena made the announcement through an Instagram post and also urged others to do their bit by doing whatever is possible.

"We extend our support to the PM CARES Fund and the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (Maharashtra)," read an official statement post by Kareena on Instagram.

"In times like these, every helping hand and every rupee raised matters. Do Help wherever possible," the statement further read.

However, the amount of donation hasn't been revealed in the post.

The star couple has joined a list of celebrities including Akshay Kumar, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal and others who too have extended support to PM CARES Fund to fight against coronavirus.

Earlier on March 31, the 'Jab We Met' actor had announced their contribution to UNICEF, GIVE INDIA and the International Association of Human Values (IAHV).

There are 1764 active coronavirus cases in the country, while 150 people have been cured and 50 have died, as per the Union Health Ministry. 

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News Network
February 12,2020

London, Feb 12: Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen is returning to his art roots with a series of short films at London's Tate Modern art gallery, offering a sensory exploration of black identity.

McQueen, who became the first black director to win the best picture Academy Award in 2014 for "12 Years a Slave", is now based between London and Amsterdam and is focused on championing diversity in the film industry.

Visitors to his new exhibition will be greeted by "Static", a film of New York's Statue of Liberty, scrutinising the iconic symbol from every possible angle at very close range against a deafening backdrop of the helicopter from where the footage was filmed.

"What interests Steve is our view of the world, how humans are trying to represent Liberty," said Fiontan Moran, assistant curator of the exhibition.

"7th Nov, 2001" features a still shot of a body while McQueen's cousin Marcus tells of how he accidentally killed his brother, a particularly traumatic experience for the artist.

"Western Deep" is another visceral work, giving a sense through sights and sounds in an interactive installation of the experiences of miners in South Africa, following them to the bottom of the mine.

"Ashes", meanwhile, is a tribute to a young fisherman from Grenada, the island where McQueen's family originated.

The images of beauty and sweetness filmed from his boat are tragically reversed on the other side of the projection screen, which shows a grave commissioned by McQueen for the eponymous young fisherman, who was killed by drug traffickers.

African-American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976) is honoured in "End Credits".

The film shows censored FBI documents detailing the agency's surveillance of Robeson, read by a voice-over artist, for five hours.

"He is... testing the limits of how people can be documented in an era of mass surveillance," said Moran.

In a similarly militant vein, the exhibition features the sculpture "Weight", which was first shown in the prison cell where the writer and playwright Oscar Wilde was imprisoned.

It depicts a golden mosquito net draped over a metal prison bed frame, addressing the theme of confinement and the power of the imagination to break free.

The show runs alongside an exhibition of McQueen's giant portraits of London school classes, many of which appeared on the streets of London last year.

"I remember my first school trip to Tate when I was an impressionable eight-year-old, which was really the moment I gained an understanding that anything is possible," said McQueen, adding it was "where in some ways my journey as an artist first began".

He recently told the Financial Times newspaper the difference between his art films and his feature films was that the former were poetry, the latter like a novel.

"Poetry is condensed, precise, fragmented," he said. "The novel is the yarn".

The exhibition opens on February 13 and runs until May 11.

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News Network
July 3,2020

Mumbai, Jun 3: Investigators will subject the cloth allegedly used by actor Sushant Singh Rajput to hang himself to "tensile strength" analysis to determine whether it can bear the weight similar to that of the filmstar, as part of probe into his death, an official said on Friday.

Rajput (34) was found hanging at his suburban Bandra residence on June 14.

According to the investigators, the actor ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling using a green coloured night gown made of cotton.

No suicide note was found from the spot, the police had said then.

Besides viscera from the actors body, the police also sent the gown for chemical and forensic analysis at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in suburban Kalina, he said.

It will take at least three more days to get final forensic report, the official said.

To ascertain the exact cause of death, forensic experts will check pattern of ligature marks around the actors neck and also determine the strength of the gown with the help of "tensile strength" analysis, he said.

The tensile strength test will technically establish whether the cloth can bear around 80kg, the weight of the actor, he said.

The test will help determine if there was any foul play, the official said.

Tensile strength is maximum load that a material can support without fracture when being stretched.

Viscera analysis will help in checking whether there were any traces of chemical, poisonous or narcotics substance in his body, the official said.

"Usually, it takes eight to ten working days to get s report from the FSL in regular cases. But since this case is sensitive, experts are taking more precautions to avoid any kind of error in their analysis," the official said.

The forensic report of the actors mobile phone is also awaited, he said.

Recently, the police received the final post-mortem report of the actor from Cooper Hospital, which mentioned the cause of the death as asphyxia due to hanging"

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