A small-time Bollywood import from Australia has landed in the middle of a raging controversy back home with the Australian government saying it is investigating claims that she had sex with Australian soldiers while touring a military base in Afghanistan last month.

Tania Zaetta, whose most famous role to date has perhaps been playing actor Arshad Warsi’s Australian wife in the 2005 hit Salaam Namaste, has denied the allegations and the Australian Defence Department has since issued an unreserved apology for her name getting leaked to the media from a draft briefing note.

Although the final note prepared to brief the Australian Defence Minister does not include names, the investigation into what has been termed “inappropriate behaviour” will continue, the department said. Earlier, reports from Sydney said that the briefing talked about Zaetta — who went to Afghanistan last month with a number of other entertainers — having sex with special forces soldiers at the Australian base in Tarin Kowt.

Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper first reported the unsubstantiated claims, and said these were detailed in the note prepared for Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon. “This is the most ridiculous story I’ve heard about my life, and I’ve heard plenty over the years in this industry,” the 37-year-old actress told the Telegraph.

With the Opposition too attacking the Government over the “gross invasion” of Zaetta’s privacy, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was quoted by APP as raising a doubt on the charges. “I doubt very, very, very much... I have only seen all the girls conduct themselves in a very, very professional manner and certainly Tania, because she is a very professional person,” he said.

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