Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt and his wife, Shwetambari, were on December 16 sent to judicial custody by a court in Udaipur in connection with an alleged Rs. 30 crore fraud case. The lawyer of the Bhatts had sought interim bail on medical grounds but it was not allowed.
Vikram and his wife were earlier sent in police remand for seven days, after which they have now been remanded to judicial custody. Rejecting their application for interim bail on medical grounds, the court ordered them to be sent to the Udaipur Central Jail.
The two were arrested in Bombay on December 7 and brought to Udaipur by the police. They were produced before the court in Udaipur on December 8 and were remanded to police custody on December 9 for seven days.
The couple and six others have been charged with defrauding Udaipur-based businessman Dr. Ajay Murdia, founder of the Indira group of companies and the Indira IVF clinic chain in India.
It is alleged by Dr. Murdia that he was given a proposal by Vikram Bhatt for 3-4 films, including a biopic on his late wife, and was promised profits of Rs. 100-200 crore. When nothing of what was promised, materialised, Dr. Murdia approached the Bhopalpura police station in Udaipur, where an FIR for cheating and other offences was registered against the Bhatts and six others. The police said, the alleged fraud was carried out using fake bills.