Ankur Choudhary, son of Anil Kumar Choudhary, has alleged that Dr. Neha Shandilya, one of the producers of Lohardaga, which was released on 10th March, 2023, committed fraud by surreptitiously removing the name of his father (Anil Kumar Choudhary) from the film. According to Ankur, Dr. Shandilya, proprietor of Rose Quartz Entertainment, entered into a film co-production agreement with his father in 2017, under which his father gave Dr. Shandilya Rs. 65 lakh towards the film’s production.
He further alleges that disputes arose between Dr. Neha Shandilya and Anil Kumar Choudhary because the former submitted inflated budget (without the latter’s consent) in order to avail of subsidy from the Jharkhand government. Soon, Dr. Shandilya reportedly sent Choudhary a termination letter, demanding Rs. 3.5 crore. It is alleged that the title of the film was changed from Lohardaga to Manu Ka Surrender.
This led to Anil Kumar Choudhary filing a complaint with the Jharkhand police. The matter is under investigation. Ankur further alleges that on his father’s demise in 2021, his name was removed from the film. Before that, the film had been screened at the Jharkhand International Film Festival, 2018, the International Film Festival of India, 2018, the Cannes Film Festival, 2019, and the Marché du Film in Paris in 2019. In all the aforementioned screenings, the film showed the name of Anil Kumar Choudhary as the co-producer.
Ankur further states that the anticipatory bail plea filed by Dr. Neha Shandilya and two others was rejected by the Ranchi court on March 23, 2022.