CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has restrained Eros International and Viacom, the worldwide right holders of Hindi feature film Raid, from making payment to Wild Frame Pictures, the producers of the film, in view of a suit filed by financier Aarti Maheswari to recover a huge loan lent to the producer. The stay will be in force till March 28.
The plaintiff has arrayed Eros and Viacom as garnishees to the suit to prevent them from paying the money to the producer, as otherwise, the scope of getting back her money would become remote.
According to Maheswari, producer Neelam Kumar Mangat Pathak obtained assistance to the tune of Rs 50 lakh to produce the film on the promise of returning it with interest at 30 per cent per year within six months. As Pathak failed to honour the commitment, she executed a letter of acknowledgement of debt and confirmation to repay the loan on September 23, 2015.
This apart, Pathak issued two post-dated cheques, one towards the principal amount of`50 lakh and the other towards the interest Rs 25.58 lakh dated December 20, 2015. But both the cheques bounced due to insufficient funds and a case under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act was filed. While the case was pending, Pathak gave two more cheques for Rs 25 lakh towards part payment of the loan, which were also dishonoured by the bank.
After repeated demands and threat to stall the release of the film, Pathak on March 2 last paid Rs 25 lakh as part payment towards the loan, but failed to settle the remaining amount prompting the petitioner to approach the High Court through a money suit.