Mumbai Police have filed a ‘C’ Summary closure report in filmmaker Vashu Bhagnani’s FIR against director Ali Abbas Zafar over alleged Rs 9 crore fraud in Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. The Bandra court will now decide whether to accept the closure report or proceed further after Bhagnani’s protest petition.
The legal fight between filmmaker Vashu Bhagnani and director Ali Abbas Zafar has taken a fresh turn, as the Mumbai Police have filed a closure report before the Bandra Magistrate Court in connection with the FIR lodged over the film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan.
According to the police investigation, executive producer Himanshu Mehra and the financial officer Ekesh Ranadive were named in the complaint under a “misconception that there was a fraud.” The investigating agency recently submitted a ‘C’ Summary report, which is filed when the police find that a case is neither completely true nor completely false, but based on a mistake of fact or is essentially civil in nature.
ALSO READ: Bollywood Actor Shreyas Talpade Accused in Chit Fund Fraud Case, FIRs Registered
As per legal procedure, a ‘C’ Summary report means that the complaint is not considered malicious, but there is not enough evidence to continue criminal prosecution. In this case, the police have concluded that the dispute appears to be more of a financial or contractual disagreement rather than a clear criminal offence.
The FIR was originally registered on the complaint of Vashu Bhagnani, who had made serious allegations of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and defamation. The dispute arose after the release of the big-budget 2024 film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, which was co-produced by Bhagnani and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar.
Bhagnani had publicly claimed that his production house invested around ₹230 crore in the film. He alleged that he was not given proper financial analysis or clear details about how the money was spent and for what specific purposes. In his complaint, he further claimed that there had been financial irregularities amounting to ₹9 crore.
However, the police report states that while Bhagnani alleged a fraud of ₹9 crore, he did not provide specific details explaining how the fraud was committed. The investigators pointed out that there was no clear explanation about how any alleged forgery was carried out or how the claimed fraudulent amount was calculated.
The complaint also did not clarify who was allegedly overpaid, which expenses were inflated, whether payments were made for work that was not done, or whether any vendors involved were fake entities.
During the course of the investigation, the police said they did not find any evidence to support allegations of fraud or fabrication of documents. The authorities concluded that although accusations of a fraudulent nature were made, there was no material proof to establish criminal wrongdoing.
In their submission before the Bandra Magistrate Court, the police have requested that the “said crime be classified as neither true nor false,” which effectively means they are seeking closure of the case unless the court decides otherwise.
Despite the closure report, the matter is far from over. Vashu Bhagnani has filed a protest petition opposing the police findings. Through this petition, he has challenged the ‘C’ Summary report and requested the court to reject the closure and order further investigation or take appropriate action.
The Bandra Magistrate Court will now examine both the police closure report and Bhagnani’s protest petition. The court has the power to accept the ‘C’ Summary report and close the case, reject it and order further investigation, or even take cognisance of the complaint and proceed under law.
The outcome of the court’s decision will determine whether the dispute between the filmmaker and the director ends at this stage or moves forward into a prolonged legal battle. Given the high-profile nature of the film and the large financial stakes involved, the case continues to attract significant attention within the film industry and legal circles alike.
Click Here to Read More Reports on Private Schools
