Jaipur: Bollywood filmmaker Vikram Bhatt and his wife Shwetambari have been remanded to seven days of police custody by the ACJM court in Udaipur in connection with an alleged Rs 30 crore fraud case.
The couple was arrested from their Mumbai residence on December 7 and brought to Udaipur late Monday night.
The duo was produced in court on Tuesday afternoon. DSP Chhagan Singh Rajpurohit is leading the investigation.
Upon arrival in Udaipur, both attempted to avoid media cameras. Vikram Bhatt has already challenged the case in the Jodhpur High Court, where the hearing is scheduled.
Earlier, the Udaipur Police had arrested co-producer Mehboob Ansari and vendor Sandeep from Mumbai on November 16. The court granted conditional bail to Sandeep on Monday, while rejecting Ansari’s bail plea. A six-member police team led by DSP Rajpurohit reached Mumbai and arrested Vikram and Shwetambari Bhatt from their Juhu flat.
Their security staff initially attempted to block the police, claiming the couple was not home, but both were eventually taken into custody.
The case was filed based on an FIR lodged by Dr Ajay Murdia, owner of the Indira Group and Indira IVF. He alleged that the director and his associates collected funds under the pretext of producing a biopic based on his wife.
Dr Murdia claimed he was first introduced to the project by Dinesh Kataria and later met Vikram Bhatt at Vrindavan Studio, Mumbai. Bhatt allegedly assured him that an investment of Rs 7 crore could generate four films with a projected return of Rs 100-200 crore.
Following this, multiple transfers were made into accounts of various individuals associated with Bhatt’s team, amounting to Rs 2,45,61,400. Additionally, Indira Entertainment allegedly paid Rs 42,70,82,232 — despite a total agreed production cost of Rs 47 crore. According to the complaint, only two films were completed and released. The third film, ‘Vishwa Virat’, is reportedly only 25 per cent completed, while the fourth, ‘Maharana-Ran’, has not yet begun.
Bhatt is accused of misappropriating Rs 25 crore meant for the fourth film. The FIR names eight individuals, including Vikram Bhatt, Shwetambari Bhatt and others.