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Mamta Kulkarni Denies Drug-Running Charges, Says She Is High On Spirituality

"I realised I wasn't in the relationship with Vicky Goswami anymore. It was like staying in the house with a dog — you are with him."
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Former Bollywood actress Mamta Kulkarni was recently named as a prime accused in a multi-crore drug racket linked to drug baron Vicky Goswami. According to Mumbai police, Kulkarni was actively involved in illicit activities and they were seeking her extradition from Kenya.

Kulkarni is known for her role in films such as Aashiq Awara (1993), Waqt Hamara Hai (1993), Krantiveer (1994), Karan Arjun (1995), Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995) and China Gate (1998).

But drugs-related criminal charges aside, Kulkarni, who is currently living in Nairobi, is all about spirituality and penance now.

In an exclusive interview with Mid-Day, Kulkarni claimed that even though she is not in a relationship with alleged gangster Goswami anymore, she still loves him. In the same way that we love our pet dogs.

As I did further penance, I slowly kept getting more and more detached. Then one day, I wasn't in the relationship [with Vicky] anymore. It was like staying in the house with a dog — you are with him.

"We stay apart now, but we are friends for our selfish reasons [sic]," she told Mid-Day.

Vicky met me in my years of penance but wooed me. He said, 'Come with me and see the world'. And he did show me the world.

Apparently, Kulkarni wrote a 90-page book in 2012, titled Autobiography Of A Yogini, about her transformation from 1990s sex symbol to a "detached, spiritual" person.

Kulkarni said that her spiritual teacher was the Mumbai-based Shri Gagangiri Maharaj.

In her Mid-Day interview, Kulkarni details several incidents that she says clearly showed her that she was "meant for a life of spirituality".

Like, during a shoot in Mauritius, while chanting a mantra, she saw the run rotate 360 degrees and charge at her; or the time the holy ash her Guru gave her saved her mother's life, to how when a friend lured her into for a drink, she fainted for half-an-hour only to realise that 'it was her Guru's way of showing her that she wasn't meant to drink'.

Now that a key witness in the drugs case, Jay Mukhi, has retracted his confession, saying he was tortured and coerced into making a false statement about Kulkarni, she is convinced that her spiritual path is showing her the right direction.

She even compared herself to Sita, and Goswami to Ravana.

"It's like Sita Mata... When she came back from Ravana's home, nobody believed her even when she was ready to take an agni pariskha. Just being around Ravana ruined her reputation, like mine has been ruined. If it happened to her, I am just a mortal," she said.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.