Producer Prernaa Arora arrested following Vashu Bhagnani's claims of fraud worth Rs 32 cr

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police arrested Bollywood producer Prernaa Arora for allegedly cheating film-maker Vashu Bhagnani of a sum of Rs. 32 crore, a senior official said on Saturday. According to the official, Arora had taken money from Vashu Bhagnani’s firm Pooja Entertainment for exclusive rights of a film.

The official said that Arora had, similarly, taken money from multiple investors promising each of them exclusive rights to the same film.

None of these investors was told about the other leading to breach in contract, the Mumbai police official said.

Arora was arrested Friday and has been remanded in EOW custody till 10 December, he said.

Bhagnani had earlier claimed he was given parallel rights for films Fanney Khan and Batti Gul Meter Chalu by Ms Arora’s company KriArj Entertainment. Bhagnani had also filed a petition wherein he claimed that the proprietors of the film should be held accountable for a loss of investments amounting to nearly Rs 15 crore. Recently, the Bombay High Court took cognizance of the fact that no action had been taken on the criminal charges filed by Bhagnani.

As reported earlier , the petitioner, Pooja Film Company and Vashu Bhagnani, stated that the distribution rights of the film in question were passed on to Ronny Screwvala’s company despite Bhagnani already being on board. After KriArj Entertainment Pvt Ltd (KEPL), the initial producers of the project, ran into financial difficulties, it entered MoUs with both Pooja Films and Srewvala’s company to help back the project. Bhagnani and Pooja Films thus invested Rs 15.6 crore into the film on condition of right of pre-emption, ie, the first right of refusal when it comes to production and distribution rights of the film.

However, following KEPL’s forfeiture from the project, the petitioner found out that all rights for the film had been signed over to GSP completely.

Bhagnani could not be reached for comments on Saturday.

(With inputs from agencies)