By IANS
Bangalore : The crash-landing of a lift at a city shopping mall two days ago has taken a different turn with business rivalry and the name of a popular actor-turned-politician being dragged into the case.
The lift crashed from the first floor to the lower basement of the Garuda Mall in central Bangalore Friday evening as it was said to be overloaded.
One of the occupants of the lift has been identified as Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani's foster daughter Neha Bagaria, who had gone to the mall with her relatives and friends, according to reports in the local media.
Though Neha was not injured in the incident another occupant of the lift, identified as Mohammed Sayeed, was hurt. He lodged a police complaint against the mall's managing director Uday Garudachar and the city's civic body chief S. Subramanya.
According to reports, a popular Kannada actor-turned-politician has also been named in the complaint.
Garudachar, however, has blamed business rivalry for the "minor" incident getting "so much publicity".
Without naming his rival, he told the local media "a gentleman and his family with malafide intentions have raised hue and cry about the incident."
Garudachar has also dismissed charges made by his business rivals that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Kannada actor and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting M.H. Ambareesh have a stake in the mall.
The Garuda Mall was in the news early this month when a six-year-old boy had died after falling from the third floor of the building.
The child apparently slipped through the space between the escalator and the third floor parapet railing. Police, however, treated it as an accident and did not register any case.
A senior city police official said that the chief inspector of electricals and boilers, an authorised government official to ascertain the safety standards of lifts, has been asked to inspect the mall and submit a report.
Further action will be taken on the basis of the report, he said.