Mumbai Court Denies Anticipatory Bail To 3 Booked For Misappropriating ₹3.92 Crore During Dharma's 'Naagzilla' Film Production

A Sessions Court in Mumbai on Wednesday (October 28) denied anticipatory bail to three individuals booked for financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 3.92 crores pertaining to the production of upcoming Bollywood film - Naagzilla.

Additional Sessions Judge M Mohiuddin MA denied anticipatory bail to - Shivkumar Tiwari, Kuldeep Singh Champawat and Mahipal Karan Rathore - who were engaged as Line Producer, Consultant and Executive Producer, respectively, by producers - Dharma Productions, owned by Karan Johar and the Mahaveer Jain Films, owned by Mahaveer and Neetu Jain. 

According to the FIR lodged with the DN Nagar Police Station in the western suburbs, Mahipal, Kuldeep and Shivkumar along with co-accused Somit Gope, who was appointed as an accountant by the complainant Mahaveer Jain Films, together connived and spent over Rs 3.92 crores without producing any bills or vouchers. The FIR states that the movie starring actor Kartik Aaryan, which is set to release in February next year, has been made at the cost of Rs 82.50 crore.

The complainant Jain couple, had hired services of all the accused persons, to look after providing of vehicles, junior artists, overall management of the finances, and particularly accused Champawat was appointed as a signing authority, who had the responsibility to control and administer the work of other persons. 

"The allegations against the present applicant is that all the accused persons in furtherance of their common intention, have shown the utilisation of amount of Rs.3,92,76,308 without submitting the bills and voucher. It is the allegation that the transaction of Rs.3,92,76,308 remain unaccounted. There are allegations that the accused persons demanded commission or mobile handset to grant the work to the vendors and to sanction their bills. There are allegations that the accused persons in furtherance of their common intention generated fake bills," the court noted. 

Considering all the allegations in the FIR, the judges opined that the instant offence involves huge amount of money and thus requires detailed and proper investigation.

"There is prima facie material against the present applicants about their involvement in commission of the present offence. The possibility of tampering the prosecution evidence cannot be ruled out. Therefore, the preset applicants are not entitled for bail," the judge held. 

With these observations, the court dismissed the anticipatory bail applications.

Appearance:

Advocates Niteen Pradhan, Shubhada Khot, Vikas Singh, Mahesh Vishwakarma and Atul Yadav appeared for the Accused Persons. 

Additional Public Prosecutor Dr GG Khade represented the State.

Advocate Prasanna Bhangale represented the Intervenor.