Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; February 24, 2014)

It has emerged that journalist-turned-actress Geetika Tyagi, who is currently in the centre of a controversy involving her molestation allegations against filmmaker Subhash Kapoor, was fired by a news channel in 2004. It seems that Geetika stole news-anchor-turned-AAP party leader Shazia Ilmi’s ATM card and withdrew money using the same.

A source close to Ilmi says, “She (Ilmi) used to anchor the 7 pm news segment and Geetika would host the 10 pm slot. They shared a makeup room and often Shazia would leave her bag inside the make-up room, not realising that Geetika would fish out her ATM card from the bag and withdraw money from the bank.

Obviously, Ilmi was alarmed that her card was being misused; she even filed a complaint with the management." The source adds that when questioned, Geetika denied the accusations only to own up at a later stage. “She was shown CCTV footage that caught her in the act and immediately after, she was asked to resign from the organisation,” says the source.

Ilmi, who is currently in London, confirmed the story. “Yes, the incident you mentioned is true,” she said.

Geetika, however, didn’t respond to either email or SMSes.