Mumbai: A police complaint has been filed against twenty -five celebrities of entertainment industry including Bollywood and TV for advertising energy drinks and not paying it. Roshan Gary, who runs a celebrity management company, has filed a complaint of fraud of about Rs 1.5 crore against five people at Chembur police station in Mumbai. The celebrities who have been cheated include Ankita Lokhande and Ayush Sharma.
Actors like Ankita Lokhande and Ayush Sharma were booked for shooting, but they did not get payment.
In this complaint, Tanish Chhajed, Manu Srivastava, Faizal Rafiq, Abdul and Hrithik Panchal have been accused.
Roshan Gary, who complained about this, runs a celebrity management company that combines with celebrities for various types of advertisements. In July 2024, Manish Chhajed and Manu Srivastava contacted him. He needs twenty five artists to advertise his company’s energy drink Sky 63 in Madhya Pradesh. After further discussion on the case, the accused promised to send an advance payment of Rs 10 lakh and then sent a receipt for payment. However, no amount was really transferred to the complainant’s account. The accused then asked Roshan to bring the artists to a party in Dadar.
Around 100 artists including Arjun Bijlani, Abhishek Bajaj and Harsh Rajput attended the party. As a result, twenty -five artists were selected for advertising. A total payment of Rs 1.32 crore was fixed for this. A picture of a check of Rs 15 lakh was also sent to Roshan as advance payment. During this time it was promised that soon the entire amount would be deposited in his account. Believing this, Roshan continued shooting the advertisement and uploaded its contents on social media. It was decided that all payment would be made within 35 days. After this, this material was uploaded on the social media platform of various celebrities.
In the program organized in Dadar, two checks of Rs 2.90 lakh were provided to the artists. However, both checks were bounced. When the accused were contacted, they said that they have transferred 22.5 lakh rupees from Dubai as per local foreign currency. However, no amount was deposited even after two days.
Apart from this, checks of Rs 6.5 lakh given to actress Tejashwi Prakash and Rs 1.25 lakh given to Adrija Roy were also bounced. Then on 18 October 2024, the accused issued two more checks worth Rs 35 lakh and 45 lakh rupees. It was said that this amount will be deposited in two days. Shooting was also done with artists like Kushal Tandon, Abhishek Bajaj and Jai Bhanushali.
Relying on this, Roshan paid Rs 35 lakh to some famous celebrities. However, after this, a check of Rs 80 lakh of the accused was also bounced. According to the complainant, a total payment of Rs 1.32 crore to be paid to the artists has been stopped and fraud of Rs 16.91 lakh has been done from Roshan’s private fund.
