Kerala High Court stays proceedings against Nivin Pauly, Abrid Shine in ₹1.9 crore cheating case

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday stayed the criminal proceedings initiated against Malayalam film actor Nivin Pauly and director Abrid Shine in connection with an alleged ₹1.9 crore fraud relating to the film 'Action Hero Biju 2'. [Abrid Shine v State of Kerala & anr and connected case]

Justice VG Arun, after hearing their petitions, noted that the petitions rais substantial questions about the manner in which the magistrate forwarded the complaint to the police for investigation despite a police report stating that the dispute was civil in nature.

In Shine's petition, the Court recorded, 

"Public Prosecutor takes notice for the first respondent, issue notice to second respondent through speed post. I find merit in the contentions of the counsel for petitioner that in the light of Annexure 4 Report submitted by the investigating officer as directed by the learned Magistrate, stating that the dispute is civil in nature and the complainant should resort to civil remedies, the learned Magistrate could not have forwarded the complaint for investigation under Section 175 (3) BNSS without conducting further inquiry, without adverting to the report and conducting further enquiry, hence there shall be an interim stay on the further proceedings."

Similarly, in Pauly's petition, the Court noted,

"There appears to be merit in the challenge raised, in view of Annexure A19, order of the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Vaikom on CMP filed by the petitioner alleging that 2nd respondent is guilty of producing a forged document in court for the purpose of getting his complaint forwarded for investigation under section 175 BNSS. Apart from that, it also appears that in spite of the investigating officer filing a report stating that the dispute is civil in nature, the Magistrate forwarded the complaint to the police for investigation without adverting to that report or conducting any further inquiry. In such circumstance, stay on further proceedings. Post on 11.09.2025."

The fraud case against the actor and director arose from a complaint by film producer PS Shamnas, who alleged that he had invested around ₹1.9 crore in the sequel project after suffering losses from an earlier film, 'Mahaveeryar', directed by Shine and starring Pauly.

Shamnas claimed he was promised official producer rights and a share in profits but was later cheated when the title and rights were allegedly transferred without his consent and sold overseas to a Dubai firm for ₹5 crore.

Based on his complaint, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In his petition, Shine detailed that the Shamnas had been warned of financial risks before investing but he insisted on going ahead and when 'Mahaveeryar' failed at the box office, Pauly repaid ₹4 crore to Shamnas from his personal account.

It was further stated that Shamnas forged documents, including a request to the Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce, to falsely claim title registration of Action Hero Biju 2 in his name, which was later used before the Magistrate to get the complaint forwarded for police investigation.

According to the petition, the Magistrate's decision to forward the complaint under Section 175(3) BNSS, despite the investigating officer's report categorising the matter as civil, amounted to an abuse of process as the allegations were false and the dispute was contractual in nature.

The petitions will be taken up again on September 11.

Advocates S Rajeev, V Vinay, MS Aneer, Sarath KP, Anilkumar CR, KS Kiran Krishnan, Dipa V, Akash Cherian Thomas, and Azad Sunil appeared for Shine.

Advocates T Sukesh Roy and Meera Menon appeared for Pauly.

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