'PadMan' producer Prerna Arora arrested for alleged fraud of Rs 16 crore

Producer Prerna Arora, who heads the KriArj entertainment production house, has been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing for her alleged involvement in a Rs 16-crore fraud case. KriArj entertainment is known for bankrolling many box-office hits such as Rustom, PadMan, Pari, and Toilet Ek Prem Katha. The producer has been named in many controversies in the past.

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Prerna will remain in the police custody till Monday, as per the court orders.

Earlier, Prerna’s KriArj entertainment was accused by a company named Padma Ispat for a monetary fraud amounting to Rs 50 crore.

The producer recently had a heated argument with Kedarnath director and producer Abhishek Kapoor. According to Prerna, Abhishek was allegedly making an excessive wastage of resources during the film shoot. However, the director counter-accused of non-payment of dues against her. This led to the separation of the duo, after which, Ronnie Screwvala took over the film as a producer.

Apart from this, actor John Abraham had also dragged Prerna’s name to court on multiple criminal charges including cheating, breach of trust, defamation, and offences committed under the IT act. KriArj entertainment was co-producing John’s film Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran. However, after the fallout, the actor’s production house JA Entertainment had to terminate its contract with Prerna.

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The JA Entertainment had earlier stated, “In the best interest of the film, we have terminated our contract with Kriarj Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and will soon announce the release schedule. Any future attempts by Kriarj to jeopardize the film or defame the production house and/or the film, like they have done in the past with other films, will compel us to initiate legal proceedings against them."

Kriarj, on its part, said it had instructed its attorneys to move necessary authorities for seeking justice against the breaches committed by the company and Abraham.