The Versova police have registered a case against film producer Prerna Arora and two others for allegedly cheating a woman of Rs 1.33 crore by luring her with promises of high returns and co-production credits in a Bollywood film.
The complainant, Kashish alias Nafisa Khan, who is also involved in film production, has accused Prerna Arora of taking money from her under the pretext of investment in the movie Fanney Khan. A case has been registered against Prerna Arora (40), her mother Protima Arora, and an unidentified individual.
According to the police complaint, on March 21, 2018, Prerna Arora and her mother visited Nafisa Khan at her residence in Andheri. They claimed to be associated with reputed production houses and assured Khan of guaranteed returns due to their high-value deposits. Gaining her trust, they convinced her to invest in Fanney Khan, promising a return of Rs 10 lakh on an investment of Rs 50 lakh, along with a co-producer credit. They also offered a five percent profit share from the film.
Subsequently, between March 2018 and January 6, 2019, Khan was allegedly made to pay an additional Rs 83 lakh, taking the total amount to Rs 1.33 crore.
When Khan later demanded her money back, Arora reportedly issued cheques that bounced due to insufficient funds. The complaint also alleges that the cheques contained forged signatures and were deliberately fraudulent. The amount has not been returned to the complainant so far.
This is not the first complaint against Prerna Arora. Earlier, in 2018, producer Vashu Bhagnani had also lodged a complaint against her, leading to the registration of two FIRs. According to Bhagnani’s complaint, Arora signed deals with Gothic Entertainment for eight films — Parmanu, PadMan, Kedarnath, Batti Gul Meter Chalu, Fanney Khan, Toilet Dhamal, Jhund, and Rani (Sapna Didi) — without informing him. Contracts for some of these films, including PadMan, Fanney Khan, Batti Gul Meter Chalu, Kedarnath, and Rani, were made with Bhagnani, but he was not provided with the necessary documentation.