Following a court order, Gurugram Police arrested prominent Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, former Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, and 11 others for fraud and criminal conspiracy. The FIR was filed in response to a complaint filed by a Delhi woman accusing them of fraud.
Shafali Agarwal, a resident of New Delhi's Chattarpur Mini Farm, reported that she had booked a unit in a Sharapova-themed development. According to her, a skyscraper in the project was named after Schumacher. The project was supposed to be finished by 2016, but it never got off the ground, according to the complainant.
She claimed that by associating with and promoting the hoax, international celebrities were complicit in it. She had already sued M/S Realtech Development and Infrastructure (INDIA) Pvt. Ltd, other developers, Sharapova, and Schumacher in a Gurugram court for defrauding her of roughly Rs 80 lakh.
The complainant told the court that she and her husband had reserved a residential apartment in the Sharapova project in Sector 73, Gurugram, but that the developer companies had duped them into investing money in a project that was never meant to be delivered.
"We learned about the project through advertisements and contacted the firm management after seeing photographs of the project and hearing a lot of false promises," she wrote in her complaint.
According to Agarwal, Sharapova and Schumacher plotted with the buyers as project promoters, with the former tennis star visiting the site and promising the opening of a tennis academy and sports store.
"It was mentioned in the brochure that she is marketing the project," the lawsuit stated, "and she also made false promises, attended dinner parties with the buyers, and all of this was done for the project, which never took off."
The FIR was filed at the Badshahpur police station under Sections 34 (common intention), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. "The FIR has been filed in accordance with the court order, and we are analysing the situation." "The investigation is ongoing," stated Inspector Dinkar, the police station's SHO.
Schumacher, the former Formula One world champion, should have been celebrating his 53rd birthday on January 3, 2022, but he is instead recovering at home following a catastrophic skiing accident. Schumacher suffered a severe brain injury when skiing with his family near Méribel in the French Alps in December 2013, while descending the Combe de Saulire with his son and Haas F1 driver Mick.
Despite wearing a skiing helmet, he was severely injured. Following the spectacular accident, Schumacher was transported to the hospital and placed in a coma while medics worked to save him.