Kerala High Court Extends Stay On Cheating Case Against Nivin Pauly, Abrid Shine After Mediation Fails
K. Salma Jennath
18 Dec 2025 6:15 PM IST
The Kerala High Court today (December 18) extended the interim stay of proceedings against Malayalam film actor Nivin Pauly and director Abrid Shine, in a criminal case alleging commission of fraud of ₹1.9 crore.
A criminal case was registered against Nivin and Abrid under Sections 406 (Punishment for Criminal breach of Trust) and 420 (Cheating) read with Section 34 (acts done by several person in furtherance of a common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, based on a complaint by P.S. Shamnas, proprietor of Indian Movie Makers at Thalayolaprambu Police Station, Kottayam.
Shamnas alleged that after the box office failure of 'Mahaveeryar'—in which he had invested ₹3.5–4 crore—the accused promised him a co-producer role in 'Action Hero Biju 2' and overseas rights profits. He claims the accused later concealed title transfer details and used an outdated agreement to sell the film's overseas rights to a Dubai-based company for ₹5 crore, causing him wrongful loss.
Earlier, the Court had stayed proceedings initiated against them. Thereafter, on November 24, the Court had referred the case for mediation. However, when the case came up today for mediation report, it was told that mediation failed since Nivin and Abrid did not participate in the process.
"It is reported that mediation is unsuccessful since the petitioner did not participate in the mediation. The interim order dated 12.8.2025 is extended by a month," observed Justice C.S. Dias.
The case is posted next on January 15.
Case Title: Abrid Shine v. State of Kerala and connected case
Case No: Crl.MC 7170/ 2025 and connected case
Advocates T. Sukesh Roy and Meera Menon is appearing for Nivin Pauly and Advocates S. Rajeev, V. Vinay, M.S. Aneer, Sarath K.P., Anilkumar C.R., K.S. Kiran Krishnan, Dipa V., Akash Cherian Thomas, and Azad Sunil are representing Abrid Shine.