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India’s fashion fraternity, never known
for its generosity, has abandoned style guru Prasad Bidapa,
even as he languishes in jail in Dubai charged with possession
of 2 gms of marijuana.
It’s been over a week since Bidapa was
detained at the Dubai International Airport on arrival
from Bangalore and the numerous fashion designers and
models that Bidapa launched and nurtured over the years
are partying in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and elsewhere
like Bidapa never existed.
Page 3 of Bangalore’s English dailies
are filled with photographs of the fashion world having
a blast and not missing Bidapa who was de rigeur at every
party!
Bidapa’s wife, the well-known equestrian
and former model Judith Roby Bidapa and her two teenaged
children are distraught that the fashion world has not
come together to petition for his release.
Judith is scheduled to leave for Dubai
on Tuesday to coordinate his defense.
“We have hired a lawyer in Dubai and
are hoping and praying the nightmare will end soon,” said
Sheetal Sharma, model coordinator of Prasad Bidapa Associates.
The Kodava Samaj of Kodagu (Coorg) has
been in touch with chief minister Dharam Singh to use
his good offices to secure Bidapa’s release. The Chief
Minister in turn has spoken to the Union Home and External
Affairs Ministries to try and help Bidapa.
Indian Consul General for the UAE Yash
Sinha told Sunday Mid-Day that the consulate in Dubai
had been in touch with Bidapa and doing all it could for
his speedy release within the framework of the law.
Bidapa who was taken to the Rashidiya
police station for interrogation soon after his detention
at the airport the previous Saturday, is learnt to have
been transferred to a cell in Dubai’s main prison.
His blood and urine samples sent to a
pathology lab have allegedly been alcohol and chemical
positive, the only loophole being that they were imbibed
either in Bangalore or en route and not in Dubai.
The tiny quantity of marijuana in his
possession doesn’t qualify him as a smuggler and there
is hope that he will be let off with a fine and a rap,
consulate sources hoped.
It could yet take a couple of weeks.
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