Mumbai: The Versova police booked film producer Prerna Arora on April 30 for allegedly duping her co-producer of the film Fanney Khan, Kashish Khan alias Nafisa Khan, of ₹1.33 crore.
According to the FIR, the complainant, Kashish Khan, 37, resides in Andheri West, while the accused, Prerna Arora, lives in Hiranandani, Powai. In 2018, they met through mutual friends. At that time, Arora introduced herself as a film producer and claimed she had worked with celebrities such as Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Kumar, and John Abraham, which helped her gain Khan's trust.
Arora allegedly told Khan that she had a fixed deposit of ₹60 crore, but could not secure a loan against it. She then requested Khan to invest in a film project, promising attractive returns. At the time, Arora was working on the films 'Batti Gul Meter Chalu' and 'Fanney Khan'. She asked Khan to invest ₹50 lakh in 'Fanney Khan', assuring a return of ₹10 lakh, a 5% share in the film's overall profits, and credit as a co-producer.
Khan agreed and, in March 2018, issued a ₹50 lakh cheque from her Axis Bank account to Arora. An agreement was signed, but it was between Khan and Arora’s mother, Protima Arora, who was listed as the director of Sudha Kriraz Entertainment Private Limited.
Aishwarya Rai, Anil Kapoor, and Rajkumar Rao starrer 'Fanney Khan' film was released in 2019, but Khan’s name did not appear in the credits as co-producer, and she also did not receive the promised 5% profit. When Khan confronted Arora, she was told that Arora’s father was unwell. Arora also showed her a ₹60 crore fixed deposit certificate and assured her that she would return the money.
Between March 2018 and January 2019, Arora allegedly accepted an additional ₹83 lakh from Khan on different occasions. However, she failed to return the total amount within the agreed time, thereby allegedly defrauding her.
Meanwhile, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested Prerna Arora in connection with another cheating case. Khan later discovered that the fixed deposit document shown to her was also fake. After Arora was released from jail, Khan demanded her money back. Arora reportedly issued several cheques, all of which bounced.
Eventually, Khan filed a complaint against Prerna Arora and her mother. The police registered a case against the mother-daughter duo under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code.
