Delhi Court grants ‘Drishyam 2’ producer pre-arrest bail in cheating case

A Delhi court has granted pre-arrest bail to Bollywood producer Kumar Mangat Pathak in a case of alleged cheating involving over ₹4 crore. The Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has registered a case against Pathak and his associate Bharat Sevak for allegedly inducing a businessman to invest the amount for acquiring the Chinese dubbing and release rights of Drishyam 2.

Pathak’s lawyer, Vineet Dhanda, told the court that no payment was made to Pathak personally. According to him, the funds in question were transferred to the corporate account of Panorama Studios and recorded as an advance for a Gujarati film. He argued that the alleged transaction was not connected to the cheating case filed by the complainant.

Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler stated that the money transfer was not shown, at this stage, to be to the applicant in his personal capacity. The judge noted that the transaction appears in the company’s ledger as an advance against a different project. He said whether this was unrelated to the alleged cheating will be determined during trial. The court observed that Pathak’s role was mainly linked to an alleged forged term sheet and certain telephonic conversations.

The court said custodial interrogation was unnecessary since documentary evidence had already been largely collected and the matters under investigation could be pursued without detention. Pathak has been granted protection from arrest while the investigation into the financial and contractual records continues.