Rajiv Narandas takes exception to a beauty pageant organiser allegedly making a pass at his girlfriend.
|||Durban - Murder accused Rajiv Narandas is embroiled in a spat with Durban beauty pageant organiser Farook Khan, whom he accuses of behaving inappropriately with his girlfriend.
“My name is Rajiv Narandas – I don’t take people’s s***,” read one of several e-mails Narandas sent to Khan.
Narandas, 27, became enraged when he was told Miss India Pageant co-ordinator and former journalist Khan, 70, allegedly made flirtatious comments to his girlfriend Samantha.
Samantha asked that her surname be withheld.
Khan maintains he was merely “joking” and his comments were “misinterpreted”.
The incident took place last Friday night when Khan was preparing for the pageant at the Durban City Hall the next day. Samantha was delivering dresses on behalf of Narandas, who was sponsoring dresses for the contestants, to Kamisha Nanoo (the show’s choreographer) at the Pavilion Hotel when she encountered Khan.
Khan is alleged to have asked the 25-year-old for her cellphone number and then offered to give her a lift home.
Samantha was “disgusted” by the advances of the older man and complained to Narandas.
At first, Narandas didn’t think much of Samantha’s BBM message which read: “Farook is throwing (chatting) me up.”
But when he spoke to Samantha, his attitude changed and he made his feelings known the next day in an e-mail to Khan, which read: “It has come to attention that you’ve been flirting with my girlfriend.
“When Samantha came home she explained the conversation you attempted to have with her at the Pavilion Hotel.
“When Kamisha (Nanoo) asked for Samantha’s number, you asked to have it too. Samantha didn’t respond to you.
“You commented and said: ‘I see you are keeping it diplomatic.’
“You asked her how she is going home.
“Farook, I don’t think you understand something.
“My name is Rajiv Narandas – I don’t take people’s s***.
“If you can flirt with my girlfriend and be rude and disgusting, at your age, with a 25-year-old woman, then welcome to the playground.
“I can drag your name to the front page if you want.
“I can also walk into your show tonight and announce to everyone about your behaviour.
“Let the game begin.”
Khan’s responding e-mail read: “May I respectfully point out that I did not flirt with your girlfriend.
“Yes, I did joke about her phone number but that was done in front of a whole lot of people. I regret very much that your girlfriend was offended.
“I did not have any such intention.
“May I point out that I asked about how she was going back because she had gowns with her and I simply wanted to know if she would be safe.
“The beachfront is not a safe place on a Friday evening.
“I apologise most sincerely and can assure you there was no malicious intent.
“May I point out that I have a long history with your family, on both sides, and I would never do anything that is immoral.”
However, Narandas was not mollified.
“Listen here, keep this e-mail, you will need it in court when you sue me for what I will do to you.
“You DON’T ‘JOKE’ around with things like that. There’s no point trying to simmer things down. People have feelings.
“You want me to joke with your granddaughters and show you what will happen?
“You tried your luck with the wrong woman.”
Narandas then threatened to post details of the incident on Facebook where he has 5 000 “very important followers”. He said the media would then latch on to what had happened.
His e-mail continued: “It is a pity your reputation will go down at this stage from such a petty thing.
“My girlfriend came home feeling s***, telling me an old f*** like you flirted with her. I will show her how I will make this up to her. And I will inform your competitors as well.
“Send me another e-mail and I will get my attorney to contact you.”
Khan heeded Narandas’s warning and allegedly felt he needed to beef up security for the pageant.
However, when asked about this, Khan said: “We didn’t beef up security.
“All we did was to ask the company concerned to be more diligent as there might be elements who wanted to disrupt the show.”
Khan was adamant he did not flirt with Samantha.
“I never behaved in the manner in which I’m being accused. My colleagues will attest to that,” he said.
“I think the entire incident has been misinterpreted.
“In the 22 years I’ve been running this pageant I’ve never been accused of such a thing, especially with someone who is a generation and a half younger than me.
“I’m a 70-year-old man after all and I’m prepared to apologise,” Khan said.
However, Samantha questioned why Khan hadn’t apologised at the time of the interaction. “He could have told me he was sorry but he did not end things politely,” said the girlfriend.
“I was very disgusted by his behaviour,” she said.
When approached for comment, Narandas said: “When issues like these come up, we have to deal with them.
“I do not know how many other girls had the same experience with Khan.
“I feel sorry for fathers who send their daughters to compete in these shows.
“Who knows what Farook tells the girls when nobody is around?”
Khan responded, saying he didn’t work with the young women. “I have a team of mature women who work with them. I don’t go backstage.
“I don’t understand why I’m being picked on. I’ve never been involved in something like this in my life.”
* Narandas is accused of fatally stabbing Veenand Singh, 31, outside Sandton nightclub Shoukara on July 13, 2008. He is out on bail.
Sunday Tribune
