Cleared by a UAE court of all charges in an alleged narcotics case, Mumbai actress Chrisann Pereira is now preparing to return home to her family after nearly three months, her delighted relatives said here on Wednesday.
Chrisann got unwittingly trapped in a fake drugs case and was arrested by the Sharjah (UAE) Police on April 1 where she spent around 25 days in the prison.
On April 26, she secured bail even as her family moved heaven and earth with the Mumbai Police for assistance and investigations that finally helped her emerge untainted, said her joyful mother Premila Pereira.
“The Sharjah court has finally cleared Chrisann of all the false charges, her name taken off the blacklist there, her record is unblemished. The Sharjah Prosecutors were extremely gentlemanly and thoroughly professional, they investigated the case minutely and she is now acquitted,” Premila told IANS.
She mentioned how the police and prosecutors never handcuffed Chrisann, were always courteous and respectful to both (the mother-daughter due) and helped her at every stage, though they had to do their duties.
“They have ensured us full justice and we are very relieved. This nightmarish episode has made us realise never to give up and fight till the end,” she added.
Her husband Mark Pereira and their son Kevin are also thrilled to finally expect their ‘lost kin’ home very soon.
“Mark has been very disturbed, withdrawn and brooded after Chrisann’s arrest. Now, he’s very cheerful and just waiting for his ‘special’ daughter’s return after so many months,” said Premila Pereira.
Kevin was the dutiful brother who helped his parents, ran around for various works to get Chrisann’s release, put up social media posts informing of the latest status in the case.
Since her passport has not yet been released, Chrisann cannot travel immediately, but they are hopeful it will be handed over soon to enable her to fly back to her home in IC Colony, Borivali west may by the weekend.
An upcoming actress, Chrisann has featured in films like “Sadak 2”, “Batla House”, a webseries “Thinkistan”, several stage plays.
Post-release on bail, Chrisann was hosted by a cousin, Gavin Marciny, and Tina, Joshua, Angel, and their grandfather Buddy.
“We met them after several decades and rekindled our old relations, they were extremely hospitable and hosted Chrisann like a family. I stayed in a hotel on my first trip, but on my second visit, the Marciny’s insisted I should live with them,” said Premila Pereira.
Following the Pereiras’ persistence and cooperation of the Mumbai Police, the Crime Branch tracked down the culprits who had framed Chrisann in the drugs case and arrested them.
Among them are Anthony Paul, 35, Rajesh Bubhate, 42, and the drug supplier Shantilal Rajput and a report was sent to the Sharjah Police.
Paul and Bubhate confessed to handing three persons award trophies with drugs concealed in them and two others with drugs-laced cakes before they flew to Dubai, ostensibly as vendetta against the Pereira family.
While two, including Chrisann, unwittingly walked into the trap, three others managed to evade the law-enforcing authorities in Sharjah.
Paul, believed to be the mastermind of the revenge con, apparently nursed an old grudge against the Pereira family, especially Premila (Chrisann’s mother), and once had even got into fisticuffs with Kevin.
The police found that Paul had used the same modus operandi with some other wannabe actors, assuring them of plum roles in global web-series, though one person declined to carry the trophy, which Chrisann later agreed to take with her.
(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)
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