Producer Sam Fernandes files police complaint against Aditya Pancholi over assault

Film producer Sam Fernandes has accused Aditya Pancholi of allegedly abusing, threatening and assaulting him in a hotel. According to media reports, Sam had filed a complaint against Aditya at a police station in Mumbai.The news was confirmed by the Mumbai Police. Talking about it to ANI, the police stated, “Film producer Sam Fernandes has lodged a complaint at Mumbai's Juhu police station against actor Aditya Pancholi for allegedly abusing, threatening & assaulting him at a hotel. Pancholi has also lodged a cross-complaint”.

For the uninitiated, Sam and Aditya reportedly got into a feud after the latter had pressurised him to retain his son Sooraj Pancholi as a lead actor in his upcoming project based on an Indian heavyweight boxer. Talking about it, Sam told Times of India, “I had announced the film with Sooraj in the lead role in 2019. He shot for around 12 days for the project. However, things went awry after the first lockdown, as the investors did not want to back a film with Sooraj in the lead. I spoke to Sooraj about it, who himself asked us to go ahead with another actor. However, his father, Aditya Pancholi, insisted that we retain Sooraj and that he would get an investor, but that didn’t happen”.
While Sam did mention that Aditya did give some money for the film, he emphasised they couldn’t meet the budget of the film which was around Rs 25 crore. Sam later asserted that things turned ugly between them and Aditya reportedly abused, threatened and assaulted him. Following which he filed a complaint at Mumbai’s Juhu station. On the other hand, Aditya made similar allegations against Sam and alleged that the producers misbehaved with him and asked for more money. “In February 2020, Sam came to me, shared a sob story and asked for money. He told me, ‘Khatam ho jaaunga, ghar girvi rakh diya hai, vendors ka paisa dena hai’. Being an emotional person, I gave him money up to Rs 90 lakh 50 thousand from my wife’s and children’s accounts. On January 27, he visited me at a hotel and, after a while, started misbehaving with me and talking rubbish about Sooraj and my family. He asked me for more money, and I refused. I asked him to return the money he had earlier borrowed, but he flatly refused. Next, I got to know that he filed an NC against me at the Juhu Police Station. I, too, filed an NC against him the following day. I have also filed an application for an FIR against him at the Versova police station”, Aditya was quoted saying to TOI.