Canadas broke off engagement, but failed to return ring, says suit.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Hotel mogul Vikram Chatwal is suing his former fiancé, Esther Cañadas, for calling off their engagement and refusing to return the $300,000 engagement ring he purchased for her.
Chatwal, 42, dated Cañadas, 37, a former model, as the latest in a string of brief romances he had with several models and beauty queens, including Gisele Bundchen and Kate Moss. After an apparently whirlwind romance, Chatwal proposed to Cañadas, which if it had culminated at the altar, would have marked his second marriage and her third – he was married to Indian model Priya Sachdev from 2006-2011, while Cañadas had marriages with Gran Prix racer Sete Gibernau and Dutch model Mark Vanderloo.
However, as preparations for the wedding were underway in September of 2013, Cañadas allegedly called off the wedding without warning, and took off for the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta, taking with her the pricey engagement ring and leaving behind an emotionally traumatized Chatwal. Now, he’s filing suit for $$313,560 – the cost of the ring, plus “interest, costs, disbursements and reasonable legal fees,” according to court documents.
Chatwal is no stranger to being in the headlines. The son of hotel magnate Sant Singh Chatwal, he is a graduate of the United Nations International School and the University of Pennsylvania. Chatwal helps to oversee the Dream Hotel and other locations, many established by his father, and has been a newspaper and tabloid mainstay for several years.
His marriage to Sachdev in 2006 had over 600 guests from 26 countries, and was held in three different cities throughout India: Mumbai, Udaipur, and New Delhi. In addition to his affairs with Bundchen and Moss, he also had a fling with troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan, and has had at least two stints in rehab to help him kick his addiction to alcohol.
Chatwal also had a brief stint as an actor, appearing in Hollywood productions like 2001’s Zoolander and Bollywood’s Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2006).
Neither party has openly addressed the media regarding the legal brouhaha.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com