Breach-of-contract row: Shilpa Rao denies receiving any call from police

Music director Ankit Tiwari and singers Shilpa Rao and Akriti Kakkar are mired in a controversy after reports of the Mumbai police filing a first information report (FIR, a criminal complaint) against them for alleged breach of contract started making the rounds.

As per a report in the tabloid Mumbai Mirror, a US-based event management company has filed a complaint against the trio for allegedly not fulfilling its contracts during a 2015 multi-city tour of the US.

Deep Kumar Vora, a US resident, filed the compalint at a local police station in Mumbai through a manager from his firm, Deep VIP Travels. The complaint said his firm paid Rs30 lakh to Brotherhood Entertainment, said to be owned by Ankit Tiwari and his brother Ankur. Ankit is said to have roped in Shilpa Rao and Akriti Kakkar for the tour.

Speaking to Cinestaan.com, Shilpa Rao denied even knowing the complainant. “I don’t know who this Deep Vora is, nor have I ever met this gentleman. I had an agreement with one Farhath Hussein, and we honoured all our commitments during the 2015 tour.”

Rao also denied receiving any notice from the police, “I haven’t received any call or notice from the police,” she said.

Meanwhile, Sanjiv Kakkar, Akriti's father, admitted having received a legal notice from Deep Kumar Vora in February this year. “We did receive a notice from Vora through his counsel in February this year, which we replied to," Sanjiv Kakkar said. "Nothing happened thereafter. Now all of sudden he has taken up the matter. We haven’t received any FIR copy from the police. Earlier, this gentleman had field an NC [non-cognizable complaint] against the singers at the Oshiwara police station. He couldn’t file an FIR because he had no evidence.”

Elaborating on the tour and the nature of his daughter’s contract, Sanjiv Kakkar said, “We had entered into a contact with one Mr Rizvu for the Dream Team tour in 2015. One of the accounts through which we received the remittances belonged to Vora. I reckon Vora and Hussein might be promoters in Rizvi’s company and now they must have had a fallout. We were supposed to do seven shows and the one in Houston, Texas, got cancelled due to the government.  If there was any wrongdoing on our part, then why has this gentlemen filed a complaint after two years? We are contemplating filing a defamation suit against him.”

Meanwhile, Ankit, too, is contemplating filing a defamation case against Vora. “I haven't ever met this Deep Kumar Vora," he was quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror. "The only transaction I have had with him was the money I received in my account in May 2015. I have not entered into any separate contract with the person. I will soon file a defamation case against the person.”