‘Naagzilla’ Shock: 3 Production Crew Denied Bail for Scam
Mumbai court rejects anticipatory bail of consultant, executive producer and line producer for faking bills on Kartik Aaryan's `82.5 cr film
A Mumbai sessions court has denied anticipatory bail to three production executives accused of embezzling Rs 3.92 crore during the Nagzilla film’s shoot.
The accused are Kuldeep Singh Champawat — consultant and signing authority, Mahipal Karan Rathore —executive producer and Shivkumar Tiwari who is the line producer.
Naagzilla, starring Kartik Aaryan, is a co-production between Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and Mahaveer Jain Films with a whopping budget of Rs 82.50 crore. The FIR was filed by an accountant at Mahaveer Jain Films — the company that had hired the trio to manage finances, junior artistes and vehicles.
How they pulled off scam
As per police, the trio colluded with an accountant and bypassed all SOPs. They spent Rs 3,92,76,308 without any supporting bills or vouchers!
The modus operandi was fake bills generated. Vendor invoices inflated — e.g. Rs 85,000 bill hiked to Rs 1.30 lakh. Payments cleared to a firm that gave zero services to film. Illegal commissions and mobile phones taken from vendors for awarding contracts.
Now, court says no bail
The investigating officer told court the accused may tamper with evidence if free. The court agreed and dismissed all three pre-arrest bail pleas!