Negar Khan poses during the shooting in January of a Hindi film Short Cut in Chandigarh. (Reuters)

Mumbai, Feb. 7: When Norwegian model Negar Khan stepped into the office of Special Branch-II, the Mumbai police division that deals with foreign registration, this afternoon, she would not have known she was going to be ordered out of the country.

But a few minutes later, Khan ? deported on charges of visa violations ? was driving down to the international airport to take the first available flight back home.

The Iran-born beauty who shot to fame with the remix number Chadti Jawani was detained by police at the airport all evening and will be put on a flight to Norway in the early hours of Tuesday.

Mumbai police commissioner Anami Roy said Khan had been served notices in 2004 and issued stern warnings that she cannot stay in India in violation of visa norms. According to the police, Khan is a Norwegian citizen on a visitor?s visa to India, and the immigration laws do not permit her to indulge in commercial ventures.

This afternoon, Khan was summoned to the immigration office and told she was living illegally in India.

Police sources said Khan had been asked to return to Norway in 2004 and she had complied, only to come back a few months later chasing a career in Bollywood. She is among the clutch of foreigners who have made a career in India?s fashion and entertainment industry first as ramp models and later as item girls.

Some like Czech-born Yana Gupta successfully made this transition to stardom. Gupta became a rage in fashion shows before Ram Gopal Varma offered her an item number in his film, Shool. The raunchy song, Babuji Zara Dheere Chalo, became an instant hit. Gupta now does a Bollywood countdown show for a lifestyle channel.

Known for its penchant for formulas, Bollywood began importing exotic models who could do revealing numbers with alarming regularity. Yugoslavian Yelena Jakovljevic swayed to Dupatta Beimaan Re in Pritish Nandy Communications? Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jao, and Britisher Lucy Bartholomew sizzled to Laila, Laila in Sushmita-Sen-starrer Samay. Pooja Bhatt tried to revive the Jism magic with the sultry South African Illene Hamman in Rog, but it didn?t work.

Although these models did not achieve much success, singer Tata Young revived the item song with 2004?s most popular dance track, Dhoom Mache De, from Yashraj Films? Dhoom.

But Khan?s tryst with stardom remained limited to a small role in Shaadi Ka Ladoo made by Mandira Bedi and her husband Raj Kaushal. In May last year, Khan was embroiled in another controversy over her explicit pictures appearing in Norwegian men?s magazine, Vi Menn (We Men). The pictures were picked by Indian websites. The model denied knowledge of how they appeared on the Net, but the Oslo-based magazine maintained that they were from a 2002 cover photo-shoot it had done with Khan.

Detained at the immigration office at the Mumbai international airport, Khan told reporters she had married an Indian man, and had proper legal documents, but refused to give any details. Efforts to contact Khan proved futile.