Maria Sharapova and Michael Schumacher accused of fraud

Former Tennis star Maria Sharapova and legendary F1 racer Michael Schumacher have been accused of fraud and criminal conspiracy on the basis of a complaint filed by a woman in India's Gurugram.

In the complaint filed with the police, the woman named Shafali Agarwal alleged that she was defrauded of Rs 8m (£80,000) after she put in her money to buy an apartment in a project named after Sharapova, but the project never took off. One of the towers in the same complex was named after Schumacher.

She has alleged that Sharapova and Schumacher were privy to the crime as they had promoted the project, according to a report in The Independent.

"We came to know about the project through advertisements and reached out to the company management after pictures of the project and a lot of false promises were made," said Agarwal in her complaint.

The complainant, who is a resident of Chattarpur Mini Farm in Delhi, further alleged that Sharapova was the signed promoter of the project and had conspired with the developers.

"The housing project was publicised in the name of Sharapova and Schumacher, and people got influenced by them," the complaint read.

It further claimed that Sharapova had even visited the project site in Gurugram. The FIR (First Information Report filed with the police ) also names 11 others which include the directors of the real estate project and other developers.

The project was supposed to be completed by 2016, but it never happened. Agarwal then approached a local court which directed the police to file an FIR in the case.

She further claimed that Sharapova had visited the project site and had even promised to open a tennis academy there.

"It was mentioned in the brochure that she is promoting the project, and she also made false promises, had dinner parties with the buyers, and all this was done for the project, which never took off," read the complaint.

A case has also been filed against the project's realtors M/S Realtech Development and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd.

Gurugram Police have registered a case of criminal conspiracy, fraud, criminal breach of trust and cheating against the aforementioned individuals and developers.