Bail granted to woman arrested for defrauding film producer Prakash Mehra’s son

Mumbai woman granted bail by Bombay High Court for duping late filmmaker Prakash Mehra's son; used forged documents to sell film rights.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted bail to a woman arrested for allegedly duping Puneet Mehra, the son of the late filmmaker Prakash Mehra, by selling the rights of their films using forged documents.

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A single judge bench of justice Manish Pitale granted bail to Parveen Mohammed Bilal Khan, primarily because she was arrested in November 2021 and was, thus, incarcerated for over two-and-half years.

The FIR was registered on October 7, 2020, and Khan was arrested on November 17, 2021.

Khan, as proprietor of Zoya Films, allegedly created forged documents and used them to allow the broadcast of films produced by Prakash Mehra on various channels, thereby duping him of his rightful dues.

Mehra has produced several Amitabh Bachhan-starrer superhits like Zanjeer, Hera Pheri, Khoon Pasina, Laawaris and Sharabi.

Khan had approached the high court for bail after her plea was rejected by the sessions court. She told the high court that of the 13 other accused persons, two were absconding, two others had expired, and the remaining were either granted anticipatory bail or were not charge-sheeted at all.

Considering her case favourably, justice Manish Pitale observed, “Two accused persons being advocates were not even charge-sheeted, while they were granted anticipatory bail also. The role of the accused persons appears to be different, and the material presently on record, indeed, indicates that the applicant and her husband were in the thick of things in this case and other allegations pertaining to forgery and fabrication have been made specifically against them.”

The court granted her bail on furnishing a personal bond of ₹50,000 and one or two sureties for the same amount.