Queen of small screen soaps Ekta Kapoor has beefed up her security from three bodyguards to four and two gunmen tracking her at every step, says a media report.
This happened after a hit-and-run incident on June 14, says Mumbai Mirror. Following the incident, where Ekta was almost run over by a car while she was jogging on the road along Juhu beach, she has decided to increase her own security.
Earlier, three bodyguards used to accompany Ekta wherever she went. These men were never armed though. But now, four bodyguards and two gunmen track every step Ekta takes and follow her wherever she goes. A source close to Ekta says, “She has six people close to her to ensure that she is well protected. Moreover, there is a car that follows her. This car always has a few more people who have been especially hired to protect her.”
Ekta beefed up her security at her mother Shobha Kapoor's insistence. Her father Jeetendra too was extremely worried after the jogging incident. So agitated was he post the incident, that he had reprimanded the cops at Juhu police station for having taken no action in the near hit-and-run complaint lodged by his daughter.
Obviously, his daughter's account of the driver's abrasive behaviour had got Jeetendra even more worried. Apparently, the man behind the wheels had allegedly gotten off the car and screamed at Ekta saying, “Aapko footpath pe chalna nahin aata kya? (Don't you know how to walk on the footpath?)”
There is another reason why the Kapoor family has been worried of late. Haji Mastan's adopted son Sundar Shekhar Mirza recently sent a legal notice to Balaji Telefilms saying that the Kapoors did not take their consent before making Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai. The story of the film is supposedly based on the life of Mirza's late father.
“The family wants to take no chances,” says the source, “Shobhaji told Ekta that she must have more people around her who can ensure that no untoward incidents happen to her. Ekta could not argue with her mother and had to obey.”
When contacted, Ekta did not deny the story. She simply said, “It's a very personal matter. I don't want to discuss this.”
