Seema Mattoo (BOMBAY TIMES; April 15, 2016)
In the wake of television actress Pratyusha Banerjee's suicide, her beau Rahul Raj Singh's ex-girlfriend, Saloni Sharma's name has been dragged in the controversy. Though she has been portrayed in a negative light, in an interview to BT, the model-actress claims she was actually the victim and that Pratyusha got involved with Rahul when he was still in a relationship with her.Saloni alleges, “Pratyusha was fully aware of my relationship with Rahul whereas I wasn't aware about them. Last July when I learnt from our common friends that Rahul and Pratyusha were having an affair, I went to his house to confront him.“ She adds, “While he was denying it, Pratyusha walked in a drunken state and warned me to stay away from her would be husband. Rahul called me the next day to pacify me. However, when I saw them together at her birthday party in August, I went to his house again but was denied entry. When my dad reached there, Pratyusha's parents, Soma and Shankar Banerjee, told him that they knew about my relationship with Rahul. They wanted me out of his life.“It was at this juncture that Saloni's father reportedly informed them that his daughter had taken a loan of Rs 30 lakh for the company that she and Rahul had set up together in 2011. He demand ed that Rahul should pay the money. From thereon, Saloni maintains, she would meet him only when he came to return the money.
Explaining how they started dating each other in the first place, she adds, “I met Rahul in mid-2011. I didn't know that he had married just a few months ago. I got to know about it only after three years. If I knew about it earlier, I would have never got involved with him. Rahul had told me that his wife stayed abroad. In early 2014, he informed me that their divorce was in process. Later, he told me they had divorced but I didn't ask him to show me the legal documents.“
Saloni elaborates that she isn't aware of the company's current status. “In August last year, I left Rahul and the firm. I haven't checked whether it has been dissolved or if I'm still a partner. He was returning my payment in installments. If he wouldn't have returned the money, I would have sued him,“ she claims. Ask her if she will take legal action against Rahul for defaming her, she replies, “I can take a decision only after the current legal case against him is over.“