Prernaa Arora accused of defrauding director; chargesheet filed against film producer by EOW

By Bollywood Reporter

on March 04, 2019

Filmmaker Prernaa Arora, who was arrested on December 8, 2018 for allegedly cheating film distributor Vashu Bhagnani, has been accused of duping a director whom she owed Rs 1.5 crore, a leading daily reports. Prernaa allegedly defrauded the director by trying to pass off a payment of Rs 1.5 crore made to actor Amitabh Bachchan earlier as his settlement. If the report is anything to go by, Prernaa has also been accused of transferring part of the money to her employees’ bank accounts.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police submitted its chargesheet against Prernaa to a court in February. The chargesheet includes Prernaa’s bank statement that revealed she had used part of the money taken from film financiers to purchase a bungalow in Maharashtra’s Khandala worth Rs 8 crore through actor Suniel Shetty’s real estate company.

[caption id="attachment_73155" align="aligncenter" width="960"] File photo of Prernaa Arora[/caption]

Moreover, Prernaa has also been accused of buying lavish products worth Rs 3.40 crore from established brands for herself – she spent Rs 88 lakh on Jimmy Choo shoes, purses and bags; Rs 1.38 crore on shoes and clothes from Burberry; Rs 92 lakh on clothes, shoes and purses from Genesis La Mode Pvt Ltd and Rs 22.10 lakh on Diesel products. Out of the stuff that she purchased, the chargesheet states that she owes Rs 29.40 lakh to the stores while owners have also sent notices for payment to her.

“We have got details from other stores where she shopped as well and will add them to the supplementary chargesheet. Her expenses on shopping alone could go up to Rs 5 crore,” a police source was quoted as saying by the daily. From the money that she acquired from film financiers, Prernaa paid an extra amount as salary to her bodyguards—they were hired for a monthly pay of Rs 16,000 and instead, received, Rs 50,000, as per the EOW.

Prernaa, in fact, has also been accused of forging most of her documents with three different birthdates—1979,1983 and 1986 - she apparently owns a ‘fake’ driving license and two passports with these dates.

[caption id="attachment_18401" align="aligncenter" width="2000"] Prernaa Arora photographed in Mumbai[/caption]

The 1,176-page chargesheet also includes a statement issued on behalf of Prernaa’s father Virendrakumar Arora, that says “she was born in 1979, but to apparently get work easily, she produced documents stating 1986 as her birth year." Prernaa’s application for bail, though, was rejected on Saturday.

Prernaa Arora was arrested in 2018 while Arjun N. Kapoor of KriArj Entertainment was also booked in the fraud case for allegedly cheating film distributor Vashu Bhagnani of Rs 31.6 crore.