A Bollywood twist: death, lies step out of Kaizad Gustad film

The incident happened at Mahalaxmi Railway Station in Mumbai around noon on May 25 when Gustad’s crew was filming for Mumbai Central, the director’s latest venture on travelling travails in the city. Khan was hit by a train. However, ever since, the director and his crew have been claiming that she was run over by a truck, and did not die on the sets.

‘‘Kaizad was just falsifying the facts,’’ Khan’s sister Ruby Rizvi told The Indian Express on phone from London. ‘‘Though he told us that he was not even there, we’re now finding out that he was there all along. Ayesha Shroff keeps phoning to tell us that it did not occur on the set.’’

According to an eyewitness, who did not want to be named, all actors, crew members and production units were doing a final check on the tracks. Apparently everyone else left after the inspection, but for Khan. ‘‘A train on track number four was headed towards Churchgate and I saw her being pushed by the train,’’ said the eyewitness.

As a crowd of bystanders watched, Gustad and others picked her up and drove her to Nair Hospital 20 minutes away. She died of multiple skull injuries five minutes after being admitted. The lie began at the hospital. Two crew members told the medical officer that it was a case of ‘‘truck accident’’.

They backed it up with a false report at the Worli and Tardeo police station, saying Khan had died after being hit by an unidentified truck near Haji Ali in Worli. They said she was crossing the road to buy cigarettes. The following day, Gustad flew to London with her body. After the funeral on May 27, he told the family he was not on the set and she had died in a road accident. Why did Gustad’s team lie on the accident report? ‘‘He’s just trying to save his movie. They were already a week behind schedule. And this is no small production, it will be a big international movie,’’ says the same eyewitness.

Gustad’s previous box-office flop, Boom (2003), was tied up in controversy apparently because pay checks were never handed out. His other films include Bombay Boys (1998) and Lost and Found (1995).

The cops nailed the lie when they went to the supposed accident spot and found that nobody at the busy intersection had witnessed an accident.

Incidentally, while railway constable Vaiti accompanied Khan to the hospital, she did not file a report with her superiors.

A Nair Hospital report says Nadia died in a road accident even though forensic officers, who performed the postmortem, reveal their findings ‘‘didn’t support the case history provided at the time of registering the casualty case’’.

Defending the hospital report, Dean Dr G V Koppikar says: ‘‘We treat every accident case on face value. If they say it’s vehicular, then that’s what we have to believe. The patient is a priority.’’ At the Tardeo police station today, around 20 crew members, including Gustad, were interrogated from noon till late night. ‘‘We will completely support the police in its proceedings. My sympathies are with Nadia’s family,’’ is all the Mumbai Central director was willing to say. The film’s assistant director, Ashish Udeshi, who lodged the initial complaint at the Tardeo police station on May 25, would be booked for filing a false complaint. The police are also mulling action against Gustad. Police Inspector Subhash More said: ‘‘The case will be soon shifted to the Mumbai Central railway police.’’

Raliways spokesperson Shailendra Kumar said the crew had permission to film on Platform Number 1, which is not a running track. Gustad had paid a deposit of Rs 65,000. ‘‘But around 12.45 pm, they called and said that shooting had been cancelled because a camera was not working.’’ Khan died on track number six.