Bhubaneswar, July 23: The former air hostess who came under police scanner following the arrest of P.K. Iyer, the vice-chairman of a media organisation from a hotel in the city, told cops that she was in a relationship with him and was planning to marry him.
"I have an intimate relationship with Iyer and have plans to marry him. I don't have any knowledge relating to the bank fraud," 27-year-old Chitra Athwani was quoted as saying by police commissioner R.P. Sharma. A two-member team of the police, led by the investigating officer Aswini Hansda, is already in New Delhi to record a statement of the former air hostess and is expected to return to the city today.
Iyer, 55, had stayed in a hotel room booked in Chitra's name. He continued to stay there even after she left.
The police had summoned Athwani twice on June 16 and later on July 1 to appear before Nayapalli police station. She had avoided appearance on both dates on health grounds.
Nayapalli police received a letter in the first week of this month from her claiming that she was undergoing treatment in a Ranchi hospital for a spinal cord injury sustained in a fall at her home.
She had also attached a medical certificate with her letter and requested to be exempted from questioning by police. The police said that she was staying in Delhi with one of her cousins.
The police team left for Delhi yesterday, a day after Orissa High Court granted Athwani interim protection till August 7. The court will hear her anticipatory bail plea on August 7.
Preliminary instigation by the police has revealed that the hotel room Iyer was staying in for nearly two months was booked in Athwani's name. Sources said that Iyer had arrived at the hotel with Athwani around 2am on February 14.
" They had stayed together for 10 days before Athwani left the hotel. However, Iyer continued to stay in another room of the same hotel, which was also booked in Athwani's name," said a police official.
Iyer was arrested by the CBI in connection with a loan fraud to the tune of Rs 350 crore on June 6.
