Pandemonium as Shilpa arrives in Leicester

11 April 2012
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Pandemonium surrounded Celebrity Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty as she launched her own charitable foundation in Leicester.

Crowds of hundreds of fans waited for hours in the cold for a glimpse of the Bollywood star.

Read more... • Forget affairs of state, let's all go and see Shilpa!

• Dinner adds spice to rumours of a reunion

• Agoraphobic writer tells of shock over £30,000 book prize

Shilpa had already sparked a media scrum earlier in the day when she visited the House of Commons. A press conference was moved because of security worries over the numbers of people involved.

More follows...

The Indian actress is a household name since becoming the victim of alleged racism and bullying in the Big Brother house. Shetty was forced to abandon her visit to a radio station because the throng prevented her from getting out of her car.

She had travelled up the M1 to the Belgrave area of the city, a well-known Asian community famed for its annual Diwali celebrations, with MP Keith Vaz.

As journalists waited for her arrival, a spokesman for the member of parliament said: "The police have instructions, because of the crowd, that she can't get out of the car."

Leicestershire police could not confirm reports that a woman in the crowd was taken to hospital by ambulance. "We have not got anything to say anyone was removed by ambulance," said a force spokesman. He added: "We had officers assisting the crowd."

But Shetty's disappointed fans were furious. Yashi Kotecha, 43, from Belgrave, said: "I think the whole thing has been a fiasco. They must know she's a celebrity. They did not police it well. We are really disheartened. We have been waiting here for three-and-a-half hours."

Kausar Khan, 29, from Birstall, said: "I've been here since 4.45pm and I'm really disappointed because I was so excited to see her. It's not good."

The 31-year-old actress continued on to the nearby Peepul Centre to launch a charitable foundation in her name aimed at raising awareness about Aids in India.

Addressing visitors who had paid £5 to see their screen idol, she said: "It is a cause that has been very, very close to my heart. Not just now but for the last four years.

"India is the second largest affected country in the world with the Aids. So I think it's important to do something about it and it's every person's right to live with dignity in our country, even it's a person who is HIV positive.

"It's very difficult to do that only because there's no awareness and I am going to do my bit to support that and I think starting this organisation is really going to help us try a new beginning."

Shilpa won 63 per cent of Big Brother's final public vote after alleged racist bullying prompted a record number of complaints - more than 40,000 - to the media watchdog Ofcom.

The star, who has denied her fellow housemates were racist, has seen her profile rise exponentially since leaving the house with several TV appearances and public engagements.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in