Mumbai: Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt has got embroiled in legal trouble after an Udaipur-based doctor accused him of fraud to the tune of Rs 30 crore.
The Bhupalpura police in Rajasthan is said to have registered a case of fraud against Vikram and eight others, including his wife, Shwetambari Bhatt, for luring the complainant into financing films by promising returns of Rs 200 crore.
Bhatt has denied the allegations, maintaining that the police are being “misled”.
According to the FIR filed by Dr Ajay Murdia, he was introduced to Vikram by a local man named Dinesh Kataria, whom he met through a music group that claimed to have strong Bollywood connections.
According to the complaint, Ajay met Vikram at a studio in Mumbai in April 2024, and they reached a deal where the former would invest in films, including a biopic on his late wife, while the latter would take care of the entire filmmaking process.
In the FIR, Murdia also named Vikram and Shwetambari Bhatt’s daughter, Krishna Bhatt, as an accused. The matter is currently under investigation.
Udaipur SP Yogesh Goyal told news agency ANI that the complainant claimed that he had paid a certain amount to Bhatt’s company and signed a contract to produce four movies. The production house, however, failed to deliver on the promise.
Although two movies were made, they were apparently not rightfully attributed. Meanwhile, the production of the third one, which had the highest budget, was never initiated, it has been claimed.
While rejecting the claims, Bhatt has said that he is yet to receive any official communication regarding the matter.
“They say that out of greed for Rs 200 crore, I made a scam of Rs 30 crore. If they have told this to the police, then surely they must have some documents, some paperwork. Otherwise, the police don’t do such things. So, if that is the case, then it is forged. It cannot be. I read in the FIR (which he says a journalist friend sent him), they have written that they are not from this industry, and they don’t know the work of the industry. So, I would like to ask: if this is the case, then why did they leave me and start so many films?, Bhart told ANI.
“They are doing so many films. So I think that the budgets I had given them, I used to shoot my films on a green screen. They wanted me to do it in real. So the budget will go up. Hum log Tumko Meri Kasam jo film thi uske premiere ke liye Udaipur gaye the aur ye Sunday ki hi baat aur Friday ko film release huyi thi (We had gone to Udaipur for the premiere of the film Tumko Meri Kasam. This happened on Sunday, and the film was released on Friday). Then I came to know that their IPO is forthcoming, and under their IPO, you cannot release this film, as it is for personal promotion and against SEBI rules. So they pushed their IPO. After that, we were making a film, Viraat. It’s doing well. Now, if I have made you a fool, then why are you making a third film with me? And this Viraat film, they stopped it in the middle. And I doubt that they stopped it, because they applied for the IPO again. And I think they did not want to be associated with the film industry. But the thing is that they did not pay my workers. And all this I am telling you, I have it in emails, I have it in contracts,” he added.
Bhatt’s most recent directorial venture was Tumko Meri Kasam, which hit the screens in March 2025, is produced by Murdia’s Indira Entertainment.
