COURTESY MIRROR MARCH 4
POLICE SAY PRERNAA’S ‘CON JOB’ PAID FOR HOME, DESIGNER SHOES
Chargesheet against film producer Prernaa Arora lists multiple passports, fake driving licence
She also allegedly conned a director by trying to pass off earlier payment of Rs 1.5 crore to Amitabh Bachchan as his settlement, transferred large sums of money to staff’s accounts
| Vallabh.Ozarkar@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
Film producer Prernaa Arora, who has been arrested for allegedly cheating film financier Vashu Bhagnani and his production house Pooja Entertainment and Films Ltd of Rs 31.6 crore, allegedly defrauded a director whom she owed Rs 1.5 crore by trying to pass off a previous payment made to actor Amitabh Bachchan as his settlement. Arora allegedly also transferred some of the funds to her employees’ bank accounts.
These allegations are among several explosive claims made by the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in its chargesheet against Arora, which was submitted before a court last month. The sessions court rejected her bail application on Saturday.
Arora, producer of critically acclaimed films like Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Rustom and PadMan, was arrested on December 8 last year after a complaint was filed that her production house KriArj Entertainment Pvt Ltd “induced” Bhagnani and Pooja Entertainment to finance PadMan and Kedarnath on the condition that they would get the rights to the films’ release. But Arora allegedly also signed similar deals with other production houses. She was booked along with mother Protima Arora and an aide, Arjun N Kapoor.
According to the chargesheet, Arora’s bank statement revealed that she had indeed taken money from film financiers, and that she used some of it to buy a bungalow in Khandala worth Rs 8 crore through actor Sunil Shetty’s real estate company. Protima, who is a director in KriArj Entertainment, allegedly invested Rs 2.85 crore in the bungalow.
Arora also allegedly used the money to go a shopping spree of Rs 3.40 crore—the chargesheet claims she splurged Rs 88 lakh on Jimmy Choo shoes, purses and bags; Rs 1.38 crore on Burberry shoes and clothes; Rs 92 lakh on clothes, shoes and purses from Genesis La Mode Pvt Ltd; and Rs 22.10 lakh on Diesel products. She allegedly still owes some of the stores Rs 29.40 lakh in total. The stores have sent notices for payment to her.
A police source said she bought items in similar sizes, indicating that they were meant for personal use and not for film shoots. “We have got details from other stores where she shopped as well and will add them to the supplementary chargesheet,” he said. “Her expenses on shopping alone could go up to Rs 5 crore.”
The EOW has alleged that after she came into money from film financiers, she began paying her bodyguards—who were hired for a monthly pay of Rs 16,000—Rs 50,000 a month.
The 1,176-page chargesheet claimed that Arora had several documents with three different birthdates—1979,1983 and 1986—and possessed a fake driving licence and two passports with these dates. It cites a statement given by Arora’s father, Virendrakumar Arora, which says she was born in 1979, but to apparently get work easily, she produced documents stating 1986 as her birth year.
Arora’s lawyer declined to comment. The media managers of Bachchan and Shetty were not available for comment