Actress Shilpa Shetty on Thursday filed a case in a Mumbai civil court against UK-based Jasveer ‘Jazz’ Barton — who had “claimed” to be her agent — seeking injunction against “untrue claims and demands” made by him. The court directed for summons to be served to Barton, and adjourned the case till August 24.
According to an official communiqué from Shilpa’s spokesperson and publicist Dale Bhagwagar, Barton, along with Bobby Khan, had been instrumental in introducing Shilpa Shetty to Endemol, the casting-agency for the reality show ‘Big Brother.’
But when the British media began referring to Barton as Shilpa’s "agent" and Khan as "manager" while Shilpa was still in the Big Brother house (as part of the show), the Shetty family sensed Barton was “misguiding the media,” the release said.
“Due to those incorrect media reports, business queries were being misdirected to Jazz,” said Bhagwagar. “But when we learnt that Jazz had begun signing financial deals and making commitments on Shilpa’s behalf, it had to be announced and clarified that she was not the official agent,” he stated.
The communiqué said Barton “took offence and began using derogatory language against Shilpa and her mother Sunanda Shetty in the UK media”. Bhagwagar claimed she also tried to “insinuate a racism angle” saying, she would be “deeply unhappy if Sunanda appointed a white Briton to represent Shilpa in the UK and worldwide.”
The communiqué said Barton “took offence and began using derogatory language against Shilpa and her mother Sunanda Shetty in the UK media”. Bhagwagar claimed she also tried to “insinuate a racism angle” saying, she would be “deeply unhappy if Sunanda appointed a white Briton to represent Shilpa in the UK and worldwide.”
Later, Barton came to Mumbai and made derogatory statements against the actress and her mother to the Indian media as well, according to Bhagwagar.