Nitin Desai death case: FIR registered against Edelweiss Group and some of its employees

Popular Bollywood-Marathi art director Nitin Desai died by suicide and was found hanging at his ND Studios.

August 5, 2023 - 2:44 PM IST

Earlier this week, the industry woke up to the shocking news of the demise of one of the biggest art directors in the country, Nitin Chandrakant Desai, who is expected to have died by suicide. His wife Neha Desai registered a complaint against four people in Edelweiss Group for harassing Desai and forcing him to take this step at Raigad police station. Now reports have it that the police has filed FIR against the company’s members as well as the chairman, under charges of abetting the suicide.

Nitin Desai death case: FIR registered against Edelweiss Group and some of its employees

As per reports, Neha Desai, in her statement given to Khalapur Police Station, has named chairman Rashesh Shah, RK Bansal of Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company, Smit Shah and Keur Mehta from the company as well as NCLT interim resolution professional Jitendra Kothari in the FIR. According to these reports, Mrs. Desai has submitted voice notes, which were allegedly left by Nitin Chandrakant Desai before his death, to the police based on which they have registered this FIR.

For the unversed, Nitin Desai borrowed a sum of approximately Rs. 180 crores in total between 2016 to 2018 and is expected to have defaulted the payment since 2020, amounting to Rs. 252 crores, that he now owes to Edelweiss Finance.

Recent reports suggest Neha Desai claimed that these employees plotted to usurp the ND Studios which was mortgaged as a collateral for the loan. These reports have it that Mrs. Desai accused the ECL group of harassing Desai and even refusing to answer his calls when the art director wanted to inform them about three investors who were ready to invest in the studio. In one of his voice notes, as per reports, Desai confessed that a conspiracy was being hatched to finish him.

Furthermore, Mrs. Desai asserted in her statement that, despite paying off the loan from time to time until April 2019, the ECL suddenly demanded a lumpsum of six months EMI in advance, which Desai too agreed to pay by selling off his Powai office. However, the pandemic resulted in heavy losses to the studio because of lack of business. But in order to finish off the debt, Nitin Desai also suggested the idea of a one-time settlement, but the Edelweiss people refused to discuss this. Because of these issues, Desai too is said to have incurred a loss of Rs. 100 crores in the process.

Furthermore, in her statement given to the police, Desai also accused the NCLT interim professional of sending bouncers to their residence to threaten her and her family to take possession of studios on Sunday.

On the other hand, Edelweiss Group has claimed the allegations to be false and, in a statement, they released a day ago, they have pledged their full cooperation in the case.

Also Read: Nitin Desai funeral: Aamir Khan and Ashutosh Gowariker offer last respect to Lagaan art director