Bollywood director Vikram Bhatt and his wife Shwetambari Bhatt will remain in police custody for seven days after the ACJM Court in Udaipur approved the request on Tuesday in a ₹30 crore fraud case.
A police team arrested the couple from their Mumbai home on December 7 and brought them to Udaipur late Monday night. When they reached the city, both tried to avoid the media. Vikram Bhatt has already challenged the case in the Jodhpur High Court, and the hearing is scheduled soon. DSP Chhagan Singh Rajpurohit currently leads the probe.
Earlier Arrests and Investigation
Before arresting the Bhatts, Udaipur Police had detained co-producer Mehboob Ansari and vendor Sandeep in Mumbai on November 16. The court granted conditional bail to Sandeep but rejected Ansari’s bail plea. Later, a six-member team led by DSP Rajpurohit went to Mumbai again and picked up Vikram and Shwetambari from their Juhu flat.
Their security staff tried to stop the officers, claiming the couple was not at home. However, the police checked the premises and took both into custody.
Allegations by the Complainant
The case began after Dr Ajay Murdia, founder of Indira IVF and the Indira Group, filed an FIR. He alleged that Vikram Bhatt and his team collected large sums of money by promising to produce a biopic based on his wife.
Dr Murdia said that Dinesh Kataria first introduced him to the project, after which he met Bhatt at Vrindavan Studio in Mumbai. Bhatt allegedly told him that an investment of ₹7 crore could produce four films with projected earnings of ₹100–200 crore.
Dr Murdia later transferred several payments into the accounts of people linked to Bhatt’s team. These payments totaled ₹2.45 crore. He also claimed that Indira Entertainment paid ₹42.70 crore, even though the agreed production cost was ₹47 crore.
Two Films Completed, Two Still Pending
Only two of the promised four films reached completion and release. The third film, Vishwa Virat, is only 25% done. Work on the fourth film, Maharana-Ran, has not started at all. According to the FIR, Bhatt diverted ₹25 crore meant for the fourth project.
The FIR names eight people, including Vikram Bhatt and Shwetambari Bhatt.
