Fake Bills And Falsehood: How Alia Bhatt's Now-Arrested Former Assistant Vedika Shetty Duped Her Of ₹76 Lakh Over 2-Year Period

Alia Bhatt's former personal assistant Vedika Shetty has been arrested by the Mumbai Police for allegedly duping the actress of over ₹76 lakh over a period of two years between May 2022 to August 2024. Vedika is said to have created fake bills, took Alia's signature on them and then transferred the money to her friend's account. This way, she embezzled around ₹76 lakh while she worked with her.

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A case was registered in the matter at Juhu Police Station in January this year. Alia's mother Soni Razdan was the complainant. Reportedly, the accused Vedika was absconding for the last 5 months. She was arrested in Bengaluru and was produced in the court recently. She has been sent to police custody till July 10. According to reports, Vedika worked as Alia's personal assistant from 2021 to 2024. The alleged financial irregularities, it seems, began a year after she began working with the Brahmastra actress.

The modus operandi

Vedika Prakash Shetty, 32, is accused of committing irregularities worth ₹76.9 lakh in Alia's production company, Eternal Sunshine Productions Private Limited, and her personal accounts. Alia launched her banner in late February 2021. It appears that Vedika started working with Alia around the same time as her production house was launched.  

The investigation has reportedly revealed that Vedika prepared fake expense bills, got Alia to sign them and siphoned off the money. The stolen money was then transferred by Vedika to her friend's account to avoid suspicion. Reportedly, Alia was informed that the expenses were for her travel, meetings and other work-related arrangements. Reportedly, Vedika also used professional tools to make the fake bills appear real. The siphoned money was transferred by her friend to her account later on.

Vedika evaded arrest for months 

Even after Soni Razdan filed a complaint against Vedika Shetty on the suspicion of fraud in January this year, she continued to evade arrest for nearly five months. She kept changing her location to confuse the authorities. Her location was traced to Rajasthan, Karnataka, Pune and Bengaluru, where she was finally arrested from. Vedika was then brought to Mumbai on a transit demand.