KOTTAYAM: A case has been registered against Malayalam actor Nivin Pauly and director Abrid Shine following a complaint of financial fraud by a native of Thalayolaparambu, police said on Thursday.
The FIR, filed on Wednesday night, invokes IPC Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) based on a complaint by P S Shamnas, co-producer of the 2022 film Mahaveeryar.
Shamnas alleged that after Mahaveeryar failed commercially, Pauly promised to pay him Rs 95 lakh and offered him a partnership in his upcoming film Action Hero Biju 2, directed by Shine. Relying on this assurance, Shamnas claims he spent around Rs 1.9 crore on the new project.
The film was allegedly registered under Shamnas’s company, Indian Movie Makers, but Pauly and Shine later entered into a Rs 5 crore distribution deal with a Dubai-based firm, citing an earlier contract that listed the actor’s production house as the producer.
Shamnas has accused the duo of concealing the film’s actual registration to cheat him of Rs 1.9 crore.
Neither Pauly nor Shine has responded to the allegations so far.