The statement given by IPL chief operating officer (COO) Sundar Raman to the police on Thursday may spell trouble for industrialist Ness Wadia, who has been refuting allegations that he molested and abused actor and former girlfriend Preity Zinta.

In his one-hour statement to the police, Raman confirmed that Zinta, the co-owner of Kings XI Punjab, had verbally complained to him regarding Wadia's behaviour.

A police team went to his office at the BCCI headquarters in Churchgate. Wadia, however, has maintained that Zinta's complaint against him is 'false and baseless'.

"In her complaint, Zinta had mentioned that she had complained to Raman immediately after the incident [on May 30]. He confirmed this to us," said Dr Ravindra Shisve, deputy commissioner of police, zone 1.

Zinta said that she brought the matter to Raman's attention twice. In fact, he had even intervened when she and Wadia were having an argument during the IPL auctions in Bangalore and asked them to keep quiet, her complaint said.

The second time was immediately after the May 30 incident that took place during a match between the Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium.

While Shisve refused to give any more details, he said the police were only focusing on the alleged incident that took place at Wankhede and not during the auction.

The police have also recorded the statements of six others, including BCCI officials. One of the officials was identified as Ankit Baldi, who was seen with Zinta in a video footage of the match.

"A section of the media had said that the man in the video was Wadia, but Baldi clarified that it was him, explaining the sitting arrangements," a senior officer
said, on condition of anonymity.