Until now, Prernaa Arora had been mired in financial disputes with her co-producers, but the KriArj Entertainment founder now finds herself embroiled in personal trouble with a masseuse accusing her of non-payment of dues.
According to a report in the Mumbai Mirror tabloid, Santa Cruz resident Khairun Mukhtar Ahmed, 60, filed a complaint against Arora at the Meghwadi police station accusing her of non-payment of dues.
Khairun Ahmed alleged that Arora owes her Rs3.75 lakh and the producer issued a cheque of Rs1.25 lakh which bounced for lack of funds.
The woman said she confronted Arora on 9 June but the producer pushed her and slammed the door on her.
The next day, the woman reported the matter at the Meghwadi police station where a non-cognizable complaint of intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace (section 504 of the Indian Penal Code) and voluntarily causing hurt (section 323) were registered.
“When I asked her about it once, she tried to reassure me, saying she wasn’t going anywhere. Later, she issued a cheque for Rs1.25 lakh which bounced owing to insufficient funds,” Khairun Ahmed reportedly wrote in her complaint.
When contacted, Prernaa Arora said the woman had been caught stealing money. "She came to me looking for work after her husband took ill and later passed away," she said. "I empathized with her and even gave her money as she wanted to travel to Mecca. I issued her a cheque that she was supposed to deposit on 9 June, but she deposited it earlier and so it bounced. In fact, she later even apologized for that."
Arora said Khairun Ahmed was hired on a salary of Rs60,000 but she later had to ask the society administering her building premises to prevent her entry after she was caught stealing money and tried to blame it on a member of Arora's staff.
Arora did not say more on the matter. The Meghwadi police will be calling her for questioning soon.
On the professional front, Arora has been going through tough times after she lost out on four films, all because of financial disputes.