Kerala HC restrains police from arresting Sunny Leone in cheating case

The Kerala High court on Wednesday (February 10) restrained the arrest of Bollywood actor Sunny Leone and two others on a complaint filed by an event management company.

The company alleged the actor had failed to attend a function in Kochi in 2019 after receiving payment of approximately ₹29 lakh.

The court directed the crime branch not to arrest Leone and others until they are served notice as per CrPC 41 (A)(Notice for appearance before police). The court admitted the petition and issued notice to Shiyaz, who had filed the complaint.

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Justice Ashok Menon passed an interim order on an anticipatory bail plea by Leone, her husband Daniel Weber, and another person.

Leone was questioned by the Kochi crime branch officials on February 3 at Thiruvananthapuram. She said that it was only then that she realised that an FIR had been registered against her, her husband, and one other person, under various sections of IPC, including 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) .

She said she fully cooperated with the officers and appraised them of the facts of the case and handed over documents substantiating the transactions between them and the complainant.

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It was also submitted that the complainant had demanded ₹2 crore as compensation from Leone. He had tried to “exploit and cheat the petitioners by compelling them to participate in shows prepared by him without paying the agreed consideration”.

While the event management organisers had maintained that Leone had not turned up for their function, she refuted this and said that she had come twice and the event was not held.

Though the function had to be postponed several times, it was finally scheduled to be held at Adlux International Convention Center at Angamally near Kochi.

Leone had reportedly stated that the programme had been rescheduled several times by the organisers and it was not due to her inconvenience and a balance amount of ₹12 lakh was still due to her.