Jamshedpur, June 25: The much-hyped Miss Jharkhand 2008 Talent Contest ran into rough weather when a contestant alleged that she was asked to pay a bribe of Rs 15,000 against an assured win by the organiser of the show.

Prerna Bhatt, daughter of a constable of Golmuri police station, alleged that branch manager of Bright Star, a Ranchi-based NGO, who is organising the show has asked her to pay Rs 15,000 apart from asking her to come alone to a beauty parlour.

The organiser Ajay Singh denied these allegations at a news conference which was held today.

“I deny these allegations and would not like to dwell on this matter. Prerna Bhatt is my child and I am like her father. If a child says something like this it is my duty and responsibility to ignore it and not get agitated,” he said, adding that this incident was a serious blow to everyone who are involved with this contest.

The semi-finalists were present at the news conference and they refuted the charged levelled against Singh.

“Nothing of this sort happened to any of us,” said Pushpa Nishad, a participant of this talent contest.

“The allegations levelled against Ajay Singh are not true. Wherever we went we were accompanied by our parents. We were never asked or forced to come anywhere alone,” she added.

“We practised so much and prepared ourselves for this contest. Now all my hard work and time is wasted because of this stupid incident,” said a participant who did not want to be named.

The contest has been put on hold and police investigation is being carried out in to the matter.