Mumbai: A local court has issued summons to Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra in a cheating case registered by her Secretary Prakash Jaju for not paying him legitimate dues.

Hearing Jaju's complaint yesterday (Oct 18, 2004), Magistrate V K Sharma issued the summons asking the actress to appear in person on December 7 to answer the charges of cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust alleged by her Secretary.

Jaju alleged that the actress had not paid him Rs 35 lakhs due to him in keeping with a contract signed by her.

He said that he was not only Priyanka's secretary but also a film financier and in that capacity, had introduced the actress to several filmmakers as a result of which she got successful breaks.

Jaju said the actress had entered into an agreement with him agreeing to pay five per cent of her earnings until the contract was terminated, although her father had written a letter promising to pay ten per cent of Priyanka's income.

However, Jaju said, after the success of Hindi film "Mujhse Shaadi Karoge", she removed him as her secretary and terminated the contract without paying the agreed sum of five per cent of her earnings.

Jaju said the actress also did not give the mandatory six-month's notice to remove him from secretary's job as per the agreement terms. Thus she had cheated him and committed criminal breach of trust, he alleged.

The actress was not available for comment as she was out of town, her family sources said.