C Unnikrishnan | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 26, 2011)

 

Mumbai: Red sanders smuggling kingpin Ajit Satam had invested Rs 50 lakh to make a Hindi movie, possibly with Mallika Sherawat as the lead actress. Satam had paid the money as advance to Susie Ganeshan, an assistant to director Mani Ratnam, directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) officials said.

Satam, arrested three weeks ago, is currently in jail with four of his associates. During questioning, Satam said he wanted to produce a movie.. “He did not confirm about the choice of the lead actress but we learnt Satam planned to make Sherawat the heroine and had planned a trip to Nigeria,” an official said. The script was not decided and the payment was made four months ago. DRI is likely to question Ganeshan for more details on the payment.

Satam wanted to enter Bollywood considering the money he made by exporting red sanders, a banned item, officials said. He made a profit of Rs 2 crore in export of one container. A Std XII dropout, Satam had a passion for cars. He owned six high-end cars—a Ferrari, two Bentleys, one BMW and two Mercedes.

Investigations showed that the Ferrari ran only three kilometres, though he paid over Rs 3 crore for the car, officials said. A probe is on to find out any violations, if any, in the purchase of these cars and their registration. One of them is registered in Nagaland without the vehicle travelling there. Satam had planned to buy a Rolls-Royce Phantom, but was arrested by then. More >