SC Grants Vikram Bhatt, Wife Shwetambari Interim Bail In Rs 30 Cr Fraud Case, Next Hearing On Thursday

The Supreme Court granted interim bail to filmmaker Vikram Bhatt and his wife Shwetambari Bhatt, who were arrested in a multi-crore cheating case registered by the Rajasthan Police. A bench headed by CJI Surya Kant passed the order and scheduled the matter for hearing on February 19, ANI reported.

Appearing for Bhatt and his wife, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi argued that it was unfair to send “everybody” to jail in such matters.

“He cannot put the director, his wife, everybody in jail...What is going on?” Rohatgi told the court.

The State’s counsel strongly opposed the submission, saying, “It’s not so simple. Rs 30 crore fraud!”
Justice Bagchi, however, questioned whether criminal proceedings could be used as a tool for recovering money. “But you cannot use these cases to recover money,” the judge observed.

The couple got relief after the Rajasthan High Court earlier declined to grant them bail in the alleged Rs 30 crore fraud case. They have been in custody since December 7, following their arrest in Mumbai and transfer to Udaipur.

About Rs 30 Crore Fraud Case

The legal trouble for Vikram Bhatt stems from a complaint filed by Ajay Murdia, the Udaipur-based founder of Indira IVF, who accused the filmmaker of cheating and criminal breach of trust. According to the FIR, Bhatt, his wife Shwetambari, and their associates allegedly misappropriated funds totalling Rs 30 crore that were intended for a multi-film production project. The complainant claimed that the accused prepared fraudulent invoices under various names to get funds transferred, and allegedly diverted the money into their personal accounts for private use. 

Following this, Vikram Bhatt, his wife, his manager Mehboob Ansari, and an associate, Dinesh Kataria, were arrested by the Rajasthan Police in December 2025.

In response, Bhatt’s legal team asserted that the police acted solely on the allegations in the FIR without verifying the supporting financial documents. His lawyer, Kamlesh Dave, maintained that every transaction was transparent and conducted with the knowledge of both parties and dismissed the claims of “bogus bills” as baseless. 

“Every payment was made in the knowledge of both parties. There were no such fake or bogus bills. The agreement was done to make two films first and another two on rolling finance,” his lawyer had claimed. 

In January, a businessman filed a complaint against filmmaker Vikram Bhatt and his daughter, Krishna Bhatt Sarda, alleging they cheated him of Rs 13.5 crore. The case was registered at Mumbai’s Versova police station, and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) reportedly took over the probe.