Post the tragic death of Sushant Singh Rajput, the ED, NCB and CBI has been investigating several angles connected to the late actor's death. While ED has been looking in to the money laundering angle in Sushant’s death case, it is reported that the agency has found a suspicious payment of worth Rs 17 crores allegedly made to the late actor. According to the media reports, this suspicious ‘missing’ payment was made by producer Dinesh Vijan for his 2017 released Raabta starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon in the lead.
As per a report published in India Today, Dinesh Vijan, who was interrogated in the case last month, was suppose to submit the documents detailing the payment made to Sushant for Raabta. While, the producer had submitted some of the documents, he missed out on sharing the details of overseas shoot budget. The report also claimed that ED had searched Vijan’s residence for the same in October. During this search, the officials got their hands on documents related to the budget and expenditure of Raabta submitted to authorities at Budapest in Hungary. Reportedly, the budget of the film was around Rs 50 crore and the document stated that Rs 17 crores were paid to Sushant.The media reports also suggested that while this payment is suspicious, Dinesh has been questioned about the same and he has failed to provide information about how the payment was made to the late actor and where did the money go. On the other hand, Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films has rubbished the reports and clarified that the production house didn’t make any payment to Sushant in Hungary.
Here's the full statement Maddock Films' spokesperson on the matter:
Kindly note that Maddock Films has not made any payment to Sushant in Hungary. Maddock has also not received Rs.17 crores whether as actor fee, or any rebate from Hungary as wrongly claimed in your article. We have made full and final payment to Sushant for the film Raabta as per the agreement signed by him with us, and this payment was received by him in India. We have submitted relevant documents for the proof of such payment to the department. It should be noted that in fact all funding and financial transactions for the shooting in Hungary were handled by T-series. You may confirm from T Series. Maddock Films is a responsible filmmaker and we dutifully follow the rules and law of our country.
India Today has always stood by the truth and we hope that sharing the correct facts with you will lead to correct reporting as a responsible publication. We are not sure if we can speak about the matter at this moment, but to avoid any controversy we want to clarify we are fully cooperating with the agency and have furnished all details required and it is our sincere request to all to avoid spreading incorrect information.
You may note that Mr. Vijan was to travel back to India and had to therefore as per norms undergo a Covid-19 test prior to flying. He's detected positive for Covid-19 which is why he could not travel back and is presently recuperating. He will be travelling back to India as soon as he recovers, he and Maddock films have been and will fully co-operate with the authorities, as required. We further request you, if you choose to mention Maddock Films or Dinesh Vijan in your story, to print our above quote in full.