Toilet Ek Prem Katha producer Prerna Arora charged with money laundering by ED in alleged fraud of ₹31 crore

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case of money laundering against film producer Prerna Arora. She is known for producing films like Akshay Kumar-starrers Toilet Ek Prem Katha and Pad Man, among others. Prerna allegedly faces fraud charges of ₹31 crore.

Prerna was reportedly summoned on Wednesday but she failed to appear before the ED. As per reports, her lawyer reached the ED office on her behalf and bought her more time. He told officials that Prerna was presently out of town for official work. She has worked on films like Sara Ali Khan-starrer Kedarnath, Rustom, Fanney Khan, and Pari, among other projects.

On Wednesday, news agency ANI tweeted, “The money laundering case against Bollywood producer Prerna Arora is of ₹31 crores… ED summoned her today but she did not appear as she is not in Mumbai. On her behalf, her lawyer reached the ED office and sought time.”

Earlier in 2018, officers of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested Prerna, the then director of motion picture production house, KriArj Entertainment Private Limited, for allegedly cheating film producer Vashu Bhagnani of ₹31.6 crore. She was charged under sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. According to a Hindustan Times report from 2018, Prerna along with other accused KriArj co-owners Arjun N Kapoor and Pratima Arora allegedly induced Vashu to provide finance for the films Padman and Kedarnath.

They reportedly promised him the first claim on the post-release revenue, but they had already sold the rights to other financial organisations. The company allegedly chose to conceal this fact and later failed to return the money, causing Vashu Bhagnani a wrongful loss of ₹31.6 crore as per the case documents. Nagesh Vaidikar, production manager at Puja Films had lodged a complaint with the EOW on behalf of the film producer.