Prernaa Arora of KriArj Entertainment was arrested by Mumbai's Economic Offence Wing in a case of criminal breach of trust.
Bollywood producer Prernaa Arora of KriArj Entertainment, who was initially co-producing Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan starrer Kedarnath, was arrested by Mumbai's Economic Offence Wing in a case of criminal breach of trust. She was taken into custody for allegedly cheating filmmaker Vashu Bhagnani for a sum of Rs 32 crore. While a lot has been said and written in the matter, Prernaa's team has responded on the matter and released an official statement.
Here's what it read:
Ms. Prerna Arora has been once again subjected to questioning by the authorities and she has co-operated with them to her fullest capacity. At all points she has demonstrated full faith in the authorities and believes in the legal and judicial system whole heartedly.
As per our reliable resources that this current questioning has been induced by a complaint filed by Mr. Vashu Bhagnani who has repeatedly lost and in many cases been reprimanded by high courts of at least 2 different states of the country. Mr Bhagnani and his company have attracted orders which are available in public domain from the court stating that they have attempted fraud and their pleas have been rejected time and again. On the contrary the courts have also taken note of the fact that there has been forceful coercion and threats to Ms. Arora and her family by Vashu to fulfil his demands.
In this coercion a serious attempt has been made by him to get Arora to wrongfully malign her and business associates, an attempt she has strongly averted and not given in to. The threats to the family have extended to taking away their place of residence and the likes, proof of this communication has been presented to the courts.
Documents that have been submitted to the courts clearly state that lack of legitimacy to the claims of Mr. Bhagnani to distribution rights of films being produced by KriArj Entertainment. Contrary to what is being demanded by him, it is a clear fact that none of the films that distribution rights are being claimed are his, the courts have themselves acknowledged that the transactions were never completed and hence proved malicious. On the contrary Mr. Bhagnani is in blatant breach terms of understanding and obligations casted on him.
In furtherance to that it is pertinent to mention that Mr. Bhagnani’s company which was given rights to distribute ‘Pari’ has till date (nine months after the release of the film) not provided any business statements for the film’s revenues and holding significant amount of Kriarj’s share in the revenue of the film. As can be understood distribution is the primary source of revenues for any film and KriArj has been denied the rights and revenues of their own film.
As expected that there have been consistent requests and reminders to that effect which have fallen on deaf ears. This modus operandi of Mr. Bhagnani has affected other areas of KriArj’s films also. There was a settlement that was agreed to for the film Parmanu in the Honourable High Court of Mumbai many months ago which has been blatantly violated by him. The statement of fair share of revenues to be paid has once again not been provided and the money retained by him. From what is understood both John Abraham and Zee have either initiated or are in the process of initiating legal action against Mr.Bhagnani.
In a transaction relating to KriArj’s film Padman, Mr Bhagnani retained a significant amount towards a proposed property purchase at Pooja Casa, Bandra. Despite repeated requests no documents, receipts was ever issued and neither the any property documents ever executed and/or registered, that also established that claims are not legitimate as alleged by Mr. Bhagnani. This along with the non-fructified distribution understanding’s of one of the films has been made out to be the primary bone of contention in his attempt to mislead the authorities.
Prerna has and continues to provide all the necessary information to clear this attempt to malign a reputation built with hard work, sweat and blood. The faith in the legal system remains as strong as ever and is further strengthened by the favourable judgements time and again in favour of KriArj and against Mr. Bhagnani. These defeats have led him to take this route to pressurize her, partners and associates.
After having produced films like Rustom, Toilet- Ek Prem Katha, Padman, Pari amongst others, she is now being subjected to undue pressure and attempted misuse of the system. The most heartening fact in all of this is that the industry insiders have chosen to support and stick by her in these difficult circumstances. The immense support from her associates and the industry along with the belief in the systems of our country has always been her strength.
A PTI report suggests that Arora had taken money from Bhagnani's firm Pooja Entertainment for exclusive rights of a film, as per an offical of the Mumbai police. 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 December 10, he said. Bhagnani had earlier claimed he was given parallel rights for films Fanney Khan and Batti Gul Meter Chalu by Arora's company KriArj Entertainment.
(With PTI inputs)
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 "Prernaa Arora")
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