KETAN PAREKH

A share broker with an uncanny ability to manipulate the markets, Mumbai-based Ketan Parekh shot to fame in 2001 after he was arrested for pulling off one of the worst scams in Indian trading history. His defrauding ways saw the Global Trust Bank go out of business, and bled several other banks by millions of rupees. He was subsequently slapped a jail term, and banned by the Securities and Exchange Board of India from trading for 14 years. However, as recently as in June 2009, it was suspected that he might still be working the market. He happens to be in the UK now.

BUDHIA SINGH

Remember this child prodigy from Orissa? A two-foot-nothing mini marathoner being egged on by his coach to run an unbelievable 65 km in seven hours? Budhia Singh was only three-and-a-half years old when he found a place in the 2006 Limca Book of Records, after coursing the highway on the double from Puri’s Jagannath Temple to Bhubaneswar. However, child rights activists soon swung into action and barred the boy from running such absurd distances, and his coach was condemned for exploiting the toddler. Currently, Budhia is under the government’s care — he studies in Class I and stays at the state government’s sports hostel in Bhubaneswar. While he is debarred from running any more marathons, he has often been spotted honing his skills.

THE KANCHI SEER

lJayendra Saraswati, the 69th Shankaracharya of the Kanchi mutt in Tamil Nadu, found himself in the eye of a storm in 2004 when he was arrested for his alleged role in the murder of a temple manager. A year after his arrest, however, he secured bail from the Supreme Court. Jayendra Saraswati continues to be the Seer of Kanchi, although he was succeeded as the 70th Shankaracharya of Kanchi by Vijayendra Saraswati. The murder case, on the other hand, still drags on in a Pondicherry court. And with most of the witnesses reportedly turning hostile, experts say the final verdict might eventually swing in the seer’s favour.

SHEFALI ZARIWALA

Her pink thongs sent the nation into a frenzy when in 2003 when she gyrated to a souped-up version of the old Lata Mangeshkar song Kaanta Laga. However, a few more music videos and a nondescript appearance in a Bollywood flick later, Shefali Zariwala moved out of the arc lights, quietly got herself a degree in information technology from a Mumbai engineering college, got married and proceeded to live the life of a commoner. Last heard, she had lodged an FIR in November 2009 against her husband, alleging embezzlement of joint funds.

HARSHWARDHAN NAWATHE

Slumdog millionaire in real life, Nawathe was handed a cheque for a cool Rs 1 crore by quiz master Amitabh Bachchan in October 2000, after he successfully ‘locked’ and answered all those tricky questions posed to him by ‘Computerji’ in the first season of Kaun Banega Crorepati. India’s very first reality TV star, he later went to Scotland, where he acquired an MBA from Napier University, and returned to India to lead a more ordinary life. He is currently deputy general manager of the child rights and education department at Naandi Foundation, a non governmental orgnisation, and lives in Mumbai.

GREGORY DAVID ROBERTS

Drug addict-turned-bank robber-turned-passport forger-turned-bestselling author, Roberts’s debut novel Shantaram made him an instant celebrity in 2003. A semi-autobiographical work detailing the picaresque adventures of its protagonist, the book was also Roberts’s tribute to Mumbai, the city he had sought refuge in after fleeing from an Australian prison. These days, Roberts spends much of his time mingling with the Who’s Who of Maximum City, while jet setting around the world with his new Swiss wife Francoise Sturdza. Now a busy writer, Roberts has also finished writing the screenplay of Shantaram, while scripting a sequel to the novel that’s slated to be published soon.

MOHAMMAD KAIF

Few cricket enthusiasts will ever forget his blitzkrieg innings in the 2002 NatWest Series final against England, when he scored an unbeaten 87 off 75 balls — in tandem with an equally fiery 69 from Yuvraj Singh — to help India seize victory from the jaws of certain defeat. However, lady luck seems to have deserted Kaif over time. Bad form led to his falling out of the Indian team in 2006, and he has since then struggled to make a comeback. His IPL career proved to be no better — in April 2009, he was unceremoniously dropped by his team, Rajasthan Royals. Last heard, Kaif had barely managed to latch on to a BCCI annual contract as a Grade D player, way down the pecking order.

THE KANCHI SEER

Jayendra Saraswati, the 69th Shankaracharya of the Kanchi mutt in Tamil Nadu, found himself in the eye of a storm in 2004 when he was arrested for his alleged role in the murder of a temple manager. A year after his arrest, however, he secured bail from the Supreme Court. Jayendra Saraswati continues to be the Seer of Kanchi, although he was succeeded as the 70th Shankaracharya of Kanchi by Vijayendra Saraswati. The murder case, on the other hand, still drags on in a Pondicherry court. And with most of the witnesses reportedly turning hostile, experts say the final verdict might eventually swing in the seer’s favour.

ABHIJEET SAWANT

Back in 2005, crooner Abhijeet Sawant had it all. He won the inaugural edition of the popular TV show Indian Idol, bagged Rs 1 crore in prize money and a contract to record his own album, and seemed well set on the highway to superstardom. The next four years saw him try his hand at acting, participate in a host of other reality TV shows such as Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar and Nach Baliye, and even join the Shiv Sena. Right now, Sawant is taking a break from the action, writing and recording his own music. While he’s not represented by any label at the moment, Sawant hopes that a music contract will come his way soon.

ZAHEERA SHEIKH

Zaheera Sheikh was the prime witness in the infamous Best Bakery case dating to the 2002 Vadodara riots. However, through the nail-biting courtroom drama that ensued soon after, Zaheera blew hot and cold in the same breath, even as she was alleged to have been on the take from political bigwigs for twisting her own statements. The court eventually found her guilty of perjury, and gave her a year in a Mumbai prison. However, once her jail term ended in 2007, Zaheera chose to settle for a life of anonymity. Queries regarding her whereabouts invariably draw blanks these days. An educated guess is that she is probably in Mumbai, living a reclusive life with her mother and younger brother, and has probably married her cousin, who she was once engaged to.