Actress Radhika questioned about links with alleged conman

Kannada actress Radhika Kumaraswamy was questioned by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) for four hours on Friday as part of a probe into a cheating case.

On Thursday evening, the CCB had summoned Radhika for questioning at 11 am on Friday. She arrived at the CCB headquarters around 10.55 am.

Radhika is suspected to have received money from Yuvaraj alias Swamy, 52, a resident of Nagarabhavi, who has been arrested by the CCB for cheating government job aspirants and politicians among others.

A police investigation found that Yuvaraj had transferred lakhs of rupees to Radhika’s bank account. Police questioned her elder brother Raviraj last week about his alleged links with Yuvaraj.

Soon after her name surfaced, Radhika did a press conference at her Dollars Colony residence and sought to clear the air about the money transfer. She acknowledged that she knew Yuvaraj and that she had received Rs 15 lakh from his bank account and another Rs 60 lakh from another person’s account. The money was her remuneration for acting in a historical film, she claimed but didn’t produce any written contract or other document about the movie.

Radhika said that Yuvaraj was her father’s friend and that her family used to consult him on astrology.

Soon after Radhika’s arrival, a CCB team led by assistant commissioner of police Nagaraj questioned her about the money transactions, her press statements and other details, including Yuvaraj’s phone call records. The actress was questioned alone until 1 pm, after which the CCB officers brought Yuvaraj and questioned them together until 3 pm. The actress was then sent home.

Radhika spoke to reporters after the questioning. “I have answered all the questions asked by the officers. If they ask me to come again for questioning, I am ready,” she said. She refuted media reports that she had received Rs 1.25 crore from Yuvaraj.

Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), said that further investigation would be carried out on the basis of the actress’ statements.