A fresh financial fraud case has been registered against filmmaker Vikram Bhatt and his daughter Krishna Bhatt, with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) taking over the investigation, police sources said.
The case was lodged at Versova Police Station following a complaint by a businessman who alleged that the father-daughter duo induced him to invest money by promising high returns through film projects and other ventures.
According to the complaint, the accused allegedly cheated him of Rs 13.5 crore.
Police said the EOW has now assumed charge of the probe and is examining the financial transactions and promises made to the complainant.
The latest case adds to Vikram Bhatt’s ongoing legal troubles. Earlier, Bhatt and his wife Shwetambari were arrested in connection with a separate alleged Rs 30-crore fraud case registered in Udaipur.
The couple was taken into custody from their Mumbai residence on December 7 and later produced before an ACJM court in Udaipur, which remanded them to seven days of police custody. Vikram Bhatt continues to remain in custody in that case.
The Udaipur case is being investigated by a team led by DSP Chhagan Singh Rajpurohit.
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A six-member police team had travelled to Mumbai to carry out the arrest from the couple’s Juhu flat, police said, adding that their security staff initially attempted to prevent the arrest.
The Udaipur FIR was filed on the complaint of Dr Ajay Murdia, founder of the Indira Group and Indira IVF, who alleged that Bhatt and his associates collected funds on the pretext of producing a biopic on his wife.
Dr Murdia claimed he was first introduced to the proposal by an associate and later met Bhatt at a Mumbai studio, where he was allegedly assured that an investment of Rs 7 crore would result in multiple films with exceptionally high returns.
Police said investigations in both cases are continuing.
