‘Finally we have an actress in our cell’: it was strange, says Chrisann Pereira

“Some of the inmates who understood Arabic realised I had worked in movies and started hooting. They said ‘finally we have an actress in our cell’. It was a strange experience… I was going through a tough time then. Jail officers started asking me about the movies I have acted in so that they could watch it,” said Pereira.

“The prison was centrally air-conditioned and had bunk beds. I shared it with nearly 30 women of various nationalities. There was a ‘welcome room’ from those who had just been behind bars to ‘mother’s room’. Though there was a language barrier, I could speak to Bangladeshis in Hindi and Nigerians in English. There were Pakistanis who could speak Urdu,” the actor said.

Adding that she would sleep most of the time as she was “very depressed”, Pereira said, “I would wake up early in the morning so that I had the bathroom to myself where I would wash clothes. Later I would also watch movies on the TV. An elderly inmate who purchased coffee from outside, told me I was sweet and passed on coffee packets to me from below the door. I used the hot water available in the bathroom to make coffee.”

“There was a psychiatrist in the prison who also looked after my medication and allowed me to continue with the medications I was taking,” Pereira said, adding, “There were days I had lost all hope. But thanks to my family and the Mumbai Police, I got through the tough times.”

#ChrisannPereira returns to Mumbai | Actor remembers losing all hope on some days, getting support and comfort from fellow inmates, and being able to speak to her family 17 days after being lodged in jail.

Follow Live Updates: https://t.co/tmZTjZjPdS pic.twitter.com/sHrgXCUJvj

— Express Mumbai (@ie_mumbai) August 3, 2023

Chrisann met Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar and other officers who investigated the case and thanked them for saving her life. A team led by Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Lakhmi Gautam and senior inspector Dipak Sawant oversaw the probe in the case.

Inspector Afroz Shaikh said that it was a challenge to file a 1,500-page chargesheet within 50 days. “We knew the case papers would go to Dubai so even the FIR was worded carefully,” said inspector Dhanraj Chaudhari.

Chrisann has been in Sharjah since April 1 and was granted bail on April 26, leading to her acquittal. However, she could not return to Mumbai due to legal procedures. The delay prompted her family to express their concerns about her mental health.

Chrisann played supporting roles in Hindi movies Sadak 2 and Batla House. In June, the Mumbai police filed a chargesheet in the case, providing evidence of how she was allegedly framed by one Anthony Paul and two others. Paul was upset over a fight with Chrisann’s mother and decided to take revenge, police said.

He then allegedly put narcotics in a trophy and gave it to Chrisann while she was flying to Sharjah and tipped off the authorities, leading to her arrest.

Paul is also alleged to have framed Mumbai-based DJ Clayton Rodrigues, who is still lodged in Sharjah prison. According to police, Paul tried to exact revenge on five people by sending them to Sharjah with articles laced with drugs. While three others escaped, Chrisann and Rodrigues were caught with the drugs.

Paul, his friend and accomplice Rajesh Borate, and a man who provided them the drugs used to frame people, were named as accused in the Chrisann case. Paul and Borate were arrested in April by the Mumbai police Crime Branch.