Producer Sanjay Saha arrested for cheating actor Vivek Oberoi of ₹1.55 crore

The complaint was registered on behalf of the actor and his wife by their accountant Deven Bafna.

Mumbai: Producer Sanjay Saha was arrested on Sunday for allegedly siphoning off ₹1.55 crore from the firm of actor Vivek Oberoi. Sanjay’s mother Nandita Saha and their business partner Radhika Nanda were booked in the matter.

Oberoi reportedly realised the mishandling of funds in April 2022, when an employee spoke about it after which Bafna was brought in to sort the issue out. Bafna found out that Sanjay had used the company’s money for various personal reasons, including paying the life insurance premium for his mother. Nanda, too, had withdrawn money from the company (HT PHOTO)

The complaint was registered on behalf of the actor and his wife by their accountant Deven Bafna. In his written complaint submitted in July, Bafna said that the two parties were supposed to start an events company, specialising in organising events related to the film business as well as movie production together.

“The Oberois had floated a company named Oberoi Organics in 2017. Since it was not doing too well, they decided to first bring on the three accused as partners in the firm in July 2020, then dissolve that business and convert it into an events business under the name of Anandita Entertainment,” the accountant had said in his statement to the police. The day-to-day work of the joint venture was looked after by Sanjay and Radhika, the complaint stated.

Oberoi reportedly realised the mishandling of funds in April 2022, when an employee spoke about it after which Bafna was brought in to sort the issue out. Bafna found out that Sanjay had used the company’s money for various personal reasons, including paying the life insurance premium for his mother. Nanda, too, had withdrawn money from the company.

“More than ₹58 lakh had been siphoned off by the two partners as per the account statements,” an officer from MIDC police station said.

The three accused have previously been named by actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who claimed that they cheated him of ₹51 lakh. Oberoi said that he had returned the money to Siddiqui on behalf of the company from his personal accounts. Besides this, Oberoi had made several public appearances as a part of the company for which he was never paid any remuneration, the complaint said.

Based on the complaint, the three accused had been booked under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (dishonest misappropriation) and 420 (fraud) of the Indian Penal Code. A senior official from MIDC police said, “Saha has been remanded in police custody after he was produced before a metropolitan magistrate court on Monday morning. In this case, the other two directors of the company are also being investigated..”