MUMBAI: There were many rumours and claims of Bollywood starlets having connections with mafia dons throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the height of the underworld's meddling in the movie business. Few of them have ever been proven. There was one actress, though, whose claimed closeness to Dawood Ibrahim is said to have killed a movie producer.

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Anita Ayoob, a Pakistani actress (also known as Ayub), made her Hindi film debut in 1993 with the Dev Anand-helmed picture Pyaar Ka Tarana. She had previously contributed to the Pakistani TV shows Doosra Raasta and Gardish. The following year, Dev Anand recast Anita in his movie Gangster, this time with him as the star.

Anita's film career slowed down as a result of neither movie succeeding. As a result of the 1993 Bombay Blasts, infamous underworld don Dawood Ibrahim had just recently left India, and rumours began to circulate that the actress was dating him.

Many people in the industry accepted the rumours that Anita was close to Dawood as fact despite the fact that she never addressed them. Filmmaker Javed Siddique declined to utilize the actress in his subsequent Bollywood project in 1995. Dawood's men reportedly retaliated by shooting Siddique dead. People's beliefs were further strengthened by this report.

Ayoob was shunned by the industry because many believed she was a Pakistani spy, according to a Pakistan-based publication in 1991. In the late 1990s, she called it quits.

Anita relocated to New York after getting married to Indian businessman Saumil Patel in the late 1990s. Shazer was their son's name. A few years later, the couple did, however, split up. Later, Ayoob wed Subak Majeed, a businessman from Pakistan. She apparently continues to reside abroad, far from both Pakistan and India.

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Credit- DNA