Actresses Ambika and Radha face off over alleged Rs 46-crore cheque fraud and family property dispute
Ambika slams sister Radha’s cheque-fraud charge: 'I should be the one suing'
Radha alleges signed blank cheques were misused for transactions worth about Rs 46 crore, but Ambika says she was the one cheated
The 1980s star sisters – Ambika and Radha – are now on opposite sides of an alleged fraud case.
Two days after actress Radha accused her elder sister Ambika and their brother Mallikarjuna Kunjan Nair (Arjun) of cheque fraud and cheating, Ambika on Wednesday (September 23) denied the allegations and said she is the one who was cheated.
At a press meet at her Valasaravakkam, Chennai residence, Ambika claimed that the said cheques were given to her. “The stop payment was Radha’s act. The cheque bounce and the loss hit me. I should be the one filing the case,” she said, breaking down, with her brother Arjun and advocate Palanivel Rajan by her side.
She rejected the word “stolen” and said it is unlike Radha to her cheques in unlocked drawers, considering she even locks up her purse while sleeping.
Sisters at odds
The elder sister’s response comes after Radha accused Ambika and their brother of taking signed blank cheques from her Valasaravakkam home and presenting them for about Rs 46 crore in Ambika’s name.
Also read: In digital payments era, it's time for India to say goodbye to cheques
Ambika said Radha’s theft allegations were an attempt to bury an earlier case in connection with the ARS Garden property.
On September 21, Radha approached the Greater Chennai Police Commissioner after IDBI Bank alerted her on September 17 that five old cheques from her unused business account had been submitted. She ordered a stop payment, she claimed.
After filing the complaint, she spoke to the media: “I was shocked to see the amount; I don’t even earn that much… If I cannot even trust my sister, I don’t know whom to trust.”
Radha’s allegations
According to Radha’s complaint, the cheque leaves came from a 2022 cheque book issued when the business was still called ARS Garden Studio. She noted that a new cheque book was issued to her after her firm was renamed as RR Gardens in January 2025. The old signed blank cheques stayed in her room for salaries, power bills, tax and garden work while she travelled, she added.
She alleged that they were taken while she was away, filled in by her brother, and presented without any authorised debt to Ambika. Reported cheque amounts include Rs 11 lakh, Rs 13.17 crore, Rs 27.73 crore, Rs 7 crore and Rs 1.79 crore.
Also read: How a balance mismatch exposed a Rs 590 crore suspected fraud at IDFC First Bank
She also alleged that she was kept out of her portion of the family house for about a year and a half, with jewellery, papers and valuables beyond reach.
Property dispute
On the property allegations, Ambika said ARS Garden was “like a child,” bought with film earnings, not a gift. She claimed that the name board was changed overnight and a larger share. She noted that the disputed property was never cleanly partitioned, and put the amount due at about Rs 97 crore.
She said she had already raised a complaint at Maduravoyal in July, and had obtained a CSR, and got no cooperation from Radha. Income-tax action that turned up gold, partnership loans taken while she was still a partner, and a bid to recast the garden as a resort all sit inside her account.
The family dispute between the siblings has been running for nearly two decades, involving divided properties including the ARS Garden (now renamed as RR Gardens), rent, gold and their current Valasaravakkam house.