Kerala High Court quashes financial fraud case against Nivin Pauly after settlement

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has quashed a criminal case against Malayalam actor Nivin Pauly over allegations of financial fraud after the actor and the complainant reached an amicable settlement.

An FIR was registered against Pauly last year under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) following a complaint by P S Shamnas, co-producer of the actor's 2022 film Mahaveeryar.

Justice P V Balakrishnan quashed the FIR, noting that the dispute that led to the registration of the case had been settled between the two parties.

The order came on a petition filed by Pauly seeking to quash the FIR on the grounds that he and Shamnas had resolved their differences.

The court observed that the alleged offences were “not serious in nature and do not have a serious impact on society”.

“I am of the view that no purpose will be served in continuing with the prosecution since the chances of the petitioner getting convicted are bleak,” Justice Balakrishnan said.

Both Pauly and Shamnas informed the court that they had no outstanding grievances against each other and did not wish to pursue the case further. The prosecution also submitted that the state had no objection to quashing the proceedings against the actor.

In his complaint, Shamnas alleged that after Mahaveeryar failed to perform commercially, Pauly had offered to pay him Rs 95 lakh.

The actor had subsequently promised to make Shamnas a partner in his upcoming film Action Hero Biju 2, directed by Abrid Shine, the complainant alleged. Shamnas had earlier claimed that he was made to spend around Rs 1.9 crore on the film's production.

According to the complaint, the film was registered under Shamnas's company, Indian Movie Makers.

However, Shamnas alleged that Pauly and Shine had entered into a Rs 5 crore distribution agreement with a Dubai-based firm under an earlier contract that identified the actor's production house as the banner under which the film was being made.

PTI