It was supposed to be one of Calcutta?s first diet restaurants and most hi-tech gyms. Now, mired in legal battles and controversy, it?s set to become a thing of the past.

Calcutta-born Australian bodybuilder and financier Deb Pahari came to Calcutta in 2003 to set up Super City Fitness Centre in Kasba, on Rajdanga Main Road. He returned to Australia, leaving the running of the gym to his brother-in-law Prasanta Kumar Mukherjee.

Now, he accuses the operations manager and his wife, Pahari?s girl cousin Shelly, of swindling him of over Rs 50 lakh. The boxing champ from Sydney has closed down most services at the Bypass fitness centre. Now under police protection, he has put off all plans to invest in Bengal and is ?fighting for justice? in court.

?I had suspicions for a while, when Mukherjee didn?t send me any accounts. And then, on my insistence, when he finally did, there were no receipts. There were some outrageous amounts for things like fuel for the cars,? he says, rifling through papers in office.

Pahari came to Calcutta in November last year. ?In December, a group of goons showed up in a Tata Sumo at the fitness centre, and threatened my people. I filed a general diary,? he says.

The Bengali from Down under returned home in February, only to come back here in March. Almost four months later, he?s still struggling, he says. ?I filed an FIR against Mukherjee on May 27. He was arrested and produced in court, but released on bail. My second FIR against him, his wife and two others, driver Mridul Halder and the computer expert Asis Mitra, was filed on June 15. This time, too, they got off on bail.?

Mukherjee alleges that he was to be made 55 per cent beneficiary in the profit of the project, which Pahari denies.

?We are family, so we didn?t have a written contract. He is the one who swindled us. Pahari also threatened us. The court case is on, and we are in touch with the external affairs ministry,? says Mukherjee.

He adds that he and his wife were also victims of police brutality at Kasba police station on June 15. ?He has been harassing us since we wanted to quit working in the gym and demanded our money back,? says Shelly Mukherjee. ?We are cooperating with the police.?

While Mukherjee and his wife claim they are the victims, Pahari says he is disappointed with the system.

?I have been to see the chief minister, but he hasn?t spoken to me. Even the police, at first, were reluctant to help. Now, I?m being told the case could go on for 10 years.?