A BOLLYWOOD film director charged with causing the death of a young British film-maker in India is wanted by police in Britain over allegations that he threatened to attack a former friend and harassed his family with a baseball bat.
Kaizad Gustad, a household name in India, is in custody in Bombay after the death of his British assistant director on the set of his new film.
Nadia Khan, 26, died three weeks ago when she was run down by a train at Mahalakshmi station in suburban Bombay. The charge of culpable homicide against Mr Gustad hinges on the fact that the director did not have permission to film on the tracks where Ms Khan was killed. Police also want to know why Mr Gustad lied initially about the cause of death.
Now it has emerged that police in Britain want to speak to Mr Gustad in connection with an investigation into the harassment of an author. It is alleged that Mr Gustad demanded money and threatened members of the writer’s family in a park in Kensington, West London. Documents seen by The Times show that Mr Gustad sent abusive e-mails to William Rhode, 32, and left him and his family afraid for their lives.
The harassment campaign began, Mr Rhode alleges, after he published his first novel, Paperback Raita, last year. He had known Mr Gustad seven years earlier in India and admits that he had drawn on his experiences in Bombay for the book.
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Mr Gustad believed that the novel’s anti-hero, who smuggled drugs to fund his film projects, was based on him.
In court last May, Mr Gustad admitted e-mailing a message to Mr Rhode detailing his libel complaint. It read: “If I don’t succeed legally, you can be assured I will, every other way, until such time as I clear my name . . . I know where you live. I know your number on both sides of the Atlantic. I have your residential address in NY. I know where your wife works . . . You want me to tell you what you did yesterday and where, I can.”
He went on: “You wanna f*** with me my friend? Be my guest. Right is on my side, and I will nail you for the scum you’ve revealed yourself to be . . . I will not let it rest, and I assure you, you will have to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder.”
Over the next few weeks a series of anonymous telephone calls were made to Mr Rhode’s home.
Mr Rhode said: “My wife was 8½ months’ pregnant when he started sending threatening e-mails and making telephone calls. Two weeks after my wife gave birth, he came to our house and threatened her and my three-year-old son with a baseball bat unless I pay him money.
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“He was able to identify my wife in a park without ever having met her before, which made us fear that he was stalking us. As a young family, we were vulnerable and he saw that as his opportunity.”
Mr Gustad denied that he had been anywhere near the house on the day in question when he appeared at the High Court in London after Mr Rhode sued him for harassment. Nevertheless, he undertook voluntarily to stay away from Mr Rhode, his wife and his two young children.
However, a number of witnesses who had been in the park opposite Mr Rhode’s house when Mr Gustad is alleged to have intimidated the family said they had seen a man of Indian origin hurling abuse and carrying a bat.
According to one witness statement presented in court, the man was shouting “I’m going to sort you out”, “I know where your children go to school”, “I’m going to get you” and “You don’t realise who you are f****** with.”
Mr Gustad left the country before he could be questioned by police over the alleged intimidation and “demanding money with menaces”. He is still listed as wanted on the Police National Computer.
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A police spokesman said: “The investigation remains open and inquiries continue to trace the suspect.”
Mr Gustad won compensation from Simon & Schuster, Mr Rhode’s publishers, six months ago. His lawyer in India declined to comment. Mr Gustad is still awaiting trial in India over the death of Ms Khan as police in Bombay collect more evidence.
Last night Ruby Rizvi, 36, one of Miss Khan’s three sisters, said: “Gustad is definitely a compulsive and pathetic liar. He had everyone fooled about the real cause of Nadia’s death. And now that I look back, I feel furious at myself for not seeing through him.”