The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a case of money laundering against film producer Prerna Arora. She is popular for producing movies such as Akshay Kumar-starrers Toilet Ek Prem Katha and Pad Man, among others. Prerna allegedly faces fraud charges of ₹31 crore.
Prerna was reportedly summoned on Wednesday yet she failed to show up before the ED. According to reports, her lawyer arrived at the ED office for her benefit and bought her more time. He told officials that Prerna was as of now out of town for official work. She has worked on movie such as Sara Ali Khan-starrer Kedarnath, Rustom, Fanney Khan, and Pari, among other projects.
On Wednesday, news agency ANI tweeted, “The money laundering case against Bollywood producer Prerna Arora is of ₹31 crores… ED summoned her today but she did not appear as she is not in Mumbai. On her behalf, her lawyer reached the ED office and sought time.”
Prior in 2018, officials of the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) arrested Prerna, the then director of motion picture production house, KriArj Entertainment Private Limited, for allegedly cheating movie maker Vashu Bhagnani of ₹31.6 crore. She was charged under sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. As per a Hindustan Times report from 2018, Prerna alongside other accused KriArj co-owners Arjun N Kapoor and Pratima Arora allegedly induced Vashu to provide finance for the movies Padman and Kedarnath.
They reportedly promised him the first claim on the post-release revenue, however they had already sold the rights to other financial organisations. The company allegedly decided to conceal this fact and later failed to return the money, causing Vashu Bhagnani a wrongful loss of ₹31.6 crore according to the case documents. Nagesh Vaidikar, production manager at Puja Films filed a complaint with the EOW on behalf of the film producer.
