Bollywood News

A controversial case accusing danseuse Mallika Sarabhai of human trafficking in Gujarat has been dropped for lack of evidence.

Police closed the investigation by filing a "C Summary" in the case.

Manushi Shah, a student of Sarabhai's Darpana Academy, had filed a police complaint in October last year accusing the danseuse of cheating her and 12 others.

Shah had claimed that Sarabhai had promised to help them immigrate to the US under the guise of the membership of her cultural troupe.

But the allegation was seen by many as a price Sarabhai had to pay for criticising Chief Minister Narendra Modi's role during the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002.

Civil rights activists had decried the allegations as yet another move of the state government to silence critics.

"The decision to file a C Summary has been taken after detailed investigations," director general of police A.K. Bhargav said in a statement Sunday.

Filing a C Summary after investigating a police complaint means there is no prima facie evidence against the accused.

"It was a misinterpretation of law by the complainant. So there was no offence," additional deputy inspector general Kuldip Sharma was quoted as saying.

The danseuse claimed that the latest move proved what she had said all along. "I had been maintaining all throughout that it was a bogus case," she said.

She had approached the Gujarat High Court seeking the quashing of the case against her, but her petition was rejected. She had then approached the Supreme Court where her petition was to come up for hearing Monday.