Officials of the Economic Offences Wing of the Maharashtra police on February 5 arrested Amit Wadhwani, Vicky Wadhwani and Lalit Dharmani for allegedly cheating Yogesh Lakhani’s advertising company of Rs. 10 crore. The Amboli (Andheri, Bombay) police filed a fresh case against the Wadhwani brothers, among others, in the case.
Lakhani, whose company does a lot of advertising work for films, stated in his complaint to the police that the directors of Sai Estate Consultants and Awe-Struck Integrated Technologies — Amit Wadhwani, Vicky Wadhwani and Lalit Dharmani — defrauded him. Yogesh Lakhani’s companies rendered services to the accused persons’ companies in terms of hoarding space worth Rs. 10.01 crore, but the clients did not pay him the dues. They kept dilly-dallying and finally, they offered to give him three residential flats in a plush under-construction housing project. They gave him allotment letters, the FIR states, but he (Lakhani) later discovered that the said flats were sold to other people.
Lakhani alleged that he was manhandled when he visited the accused person’s office and threatened.
On Lakhani’s complaint, the police on February 5 lodged an FIR against the Wadhwanis, Dharmani and others under sections 408, 420, 323, 504, 506 and 34 of the IPC. The police said, the accused ran several companies that promoted politicians and Bollywood films. The Wadhwani brothers owned Buffering Media which has advertised for more than 100 films in 2022. They are also partners of builder Lalit Tekchandani who is already in the custody of the EOW and facing six cases by the Bombay police.