Prerna Arora, head of the Bollywood production house KriArj entertainment, was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police recently. She is the producer of movies like Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Rustom. She has been accused of cheating Bollywood producer Vashu Bhagnani with a sum of Rs 32 crores.
Bhagnani is said to have filed a complaint against Arora for taking money from his production house Pooja Entertainment, after promising him exclusive rights to a film. A police official says in an NDTV report that she accepted money from various other producers too, and promised them exclusive rights. None of these investors were told about the others, leading to a breach of contract.
Bhagnani said in his complaint that he was also promised the rights to her films Fanney Khan and Batti Gul Meter Chalu, both of which released this year.
On Friday, Arora was arrested and charged under sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. She has been remanded to custody till December 10.
This is not the first time Arora’s production house is facing charges of cheating.
Earlier this year, KriArj Entertainment was taken to court by John Abraham’s production house. Arora was accused of cheating, breach of trust, defamation and other offences under the IT Act. John Abraham Productions which was co-producing Paramanu: The Story of Pokhran with KriArj Entertainment later terminated its contract with KriArj. The film went on to release in May.
That same month, Gothic Entertainment filed an FIR against KriArj with the EOW and film financer Hitesh Thakkar. She was charged for allegedly cheating him of Rs 18.32 crore.
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Reports also say she recently had a tiff with Kedarnath director Abhishek Kapoor, and accused him of wastage of resources. Following this, Kapoor leveled allegations of non-payment of dues against her, and the movie was taken over by Ronnie Screwvala. Starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan in lead roles, the movie released this Friday.
Image Courtesy: Asian Age