Delhi court grants protection from arrest to Bollywood film Drishyam 2 producer

Drishyam 2’s producer Kumar Mangat Pathak was booked for allegedly cheating a businessman by luring him to invest over ₹4 crore to get the Chinese dubbing and release rights

A Delhi court has granted protection from arrest to Bollywood film Drishyam 2’s producer Kumar Mangat Pathak in a case of alleged cheating of a businessman by luring him to invest over ₹4 crore to get the Chinese dubbing and release rights of the movie.

The producer’s lawyer argued that the complainant made no payment to his client personally. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Pathak’s lawyer, Vineet Dhanda, argued that the complainant made no payment to his client personally. He added that the money was transferred to the corporate account of the Panorama Studios for a Gujarati film.

Additional sessions judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler said the money transfer is not shown at this stage to the applicant in his personal capacity. “...it is reflected in the corporate ledger as an advance against a different project...Whether this project transaction is unconnected to the alleged cheating is a matter for trial, but prima facie it reduces the justification for custodial interrogation...”

The court observed that Pathak’s role is referred mainly in the context of the alleged forged term sheet and the presence in certain telephonic conversations, which could be investigated without custodial detention, especially where the documentary trial has been largely collected.

Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing booked Pathak, who owns the Panorama Studios, and his associate Bharat Sevak.