Tennis Star Maria Sharapova in Hot Water Over Delhi Housing Scam

New Delhi (Sputnik) —  A local court in Delhi has opened a case against Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, the winner of five grand slams.  Sharapova has been named as the co-accused in the case along with the builder and office-bearers.

"Sharapova may have to visit India to join the probe now as she is one of the main people accused in the case," Piyush Singh, a lawyer who filed the case on behalf of one of the prospective buyers, Bhawna Agarwal, of the project told Sputnik.

Piyush Singh said that the company had launched the project with much fanfare in 2013 in Sector 73, Gurugram, and promised to deliver the project by 2016. After collecting millions from the buyers, the builders then fled. "As per my client, the builder claimed that there would be state-of-the-art infrastructure including world-class tennis academy where Sharapova would give training sessions whenever she tours India," Singh added. But, later on, it was found that promoters never received the necessary licensing approvals from the authorities.

Last year, Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had also faced the ire of the homebuyers of another real estate group, Amrapali for not delivering a project with whom Dhoni was attached as brand ambassador. But, Piyush Singh claimed that both the cases are different. "In Amrapali project, FIR was not filed against Dhoni while here police have filed the criminal case against Sharapova. Also, in this case, a tower was supposed to be named after tennis star which was not in the case at that time," Singh added while explaining the difference between the two cases.

The website of the project still quotes Sharapova as saying her goal was to "make the owners feel like they own something special and different."