MUMBAI: The Mumbai police are investigating a complaint by legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar that a woman was posing as an associate and collecting large donations in her name.
In an FIR filed at the Gamdevi police station, the woman has been identified as Revati Khare, who lives in Nallasopora in the Mumbai suburb of Virar.
The case came to light when a donor messaged Lata Mangeshkar about some money he had given to Revati Khare and congratulating the singer for taking up a social cause. Alarmed, the singer asked her personal assistant Mahesh Rathod to file a complaint at the Gamdevi police station, police said.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Revati Khare used to frequently go to parties and book releases and introduce herself as Lata Mangeshkar's associate. She would show brochures featuring work being done by Lata Mangeshkar's charities. She would tell donors that the legendary singer wanted to avoid publicity for her charity work and therefore was unable to approach people in person, police said.
Khare printed fake visiting cards and letterheads in Lata Mangeshkar's name and used them to approach individuals and NGOs for donations.
According to music composer Mayuresh Pai, who heads Mangeshkar's own music label L M Music, Revati Khare approached some publishing companies, offering them rights to books on Lata Mangeshkar and even demanded money from publishers to fix meetings with the singer.
Police suspect that Revati Khare has been running the racket for a long time and managed to make a lot of money from it.