Actor Himani Shivpuri in legal soup for breaching trust of Indore-based filmmaker

INDORE: A city court directed Vijay Nagar police to lodge a case of cheating, fraud and criminal breach of trust against popular film and TV actor Himani Shivpuri. Additional chief judicial magistrate issued the directives while hearing a petition that stated Himani refused to honour the agreement to act in two films of an Indore-based film producer and director, A N Dahek.
According to the petitioner’s counsel Vijay Dube and Rajesh Solanki, ACJM SP Shukla directed police on Tuesday to lodge the case, arrest the actor and investigate the case and file a detailed compliance report and charge-sheet by March 20, 2015.
In its earlier order on December 16, 2014, the court had ordered Vijay Nagar police to register the case and follow it up with investigations and submit the compliance report by February 3, Dube said.
But instead of honouring the court directions, Vijay Nagar police submitted on Tuesday that investigations in the matter cannot be carried out by them, as the matter pertains to Mumbai, he said.
However, court observed prima facie the matter pertains to Indore only, where the corporate office of the production house is located. Pulling up cops for not abiding by its order, court directed them to complete investigations at the earliest.
Petitioner alleged, Shivpuri had signed an agreement with his production house in 2012-13 to act in two films “The Real Cyanide and Tere Ishq Mein Qurban,” but she only acted in one film, The Real Cyanide. “She merely acted in the film, but didn’t do the dubbing, resulting in delay of film’s release.
He said despite being paid Rs 5 lakh advance for acting in both films, Shivpuri acted in only one film and tampered contents of the agreement to show that she had agreed to act in only one film.
Second film Tere Ishq Mein Qurban in which critically acclaimed actor Naseeruddin Shah’s daughter Heeba Shah makes her debut is slated for release on March 6.
Dahek has also reported the matter to the Western India Film Producers Association (WIFPA) in Mumbai.