The investigation report submitted by the Maradu police to the Kerala High Court on Wednesday, May 29, has found that Shawn Antony, Soubin Shahir, and Babu Shahir, the producers of the biggest Malayalam blockbuster Manjummel Boys, have committed serious financial fraud and intended to defraud the complainant.  

Based on a court petition filed by Siraj Valiyathara, one of the movie's investors, alleging that the producers had broken a profit-sharing agreement they had made with him, the Maradu police in Kerala's Ernakulam district had filed a case against the film’s producers on April 24 for cheating and conspiracy.   

Speaking to TNM, the police said that Siraj, who invested Rs 7 crore in the film on the promise of receiving 40% of the net profit, has not received his profit share nor his full investment from the producer trio. According to the police, Siraj has received only Rs 50 lakhs of his total investment, even after the film became a massive hit and made about Rs 250 crores.  

“Soubin Shahir and his father Babu Shahir did not contribute any funds to the film’s production. Shawn Antony contributed around Rs 1 crore,” the police told TNM. 

The police said that after examining the bank statements of Parava Films, the production company in which all three producers are partners, it was found that the actual budget of the movie was only Rs 18.65 crores. However, the agreement with Siraj had stated that the budget would be Rs 22 crores, including the distribution and marketing costs of the film. 

The police also said that the bank statements revealed that the petitioner had borrowed an additional Rs 11 crores for the production of the film. This was done when the makers of the film told him that the movie’s release was facing problems and that the total cost would be Rs 28 crores, even though the agreement had stated that it would only cost Rs 22 crores.

“They had also promised to show the petitioner the book containing all the financial records through the course of time as per the agreement, but they failed to keep that promise as well,” the police told TNM. 

According to the police, these actions of the producers are questionable and were done with the intention of defrauding the complainant. 

The court, meanwhile, decided to extend the order prohibiting the producers' arrest until June 5.