Mumbai Police probes ₹350-cr fraud claim against Percept CMD, 26 others

Mumbai: The Mumbai Police has begun a preliminary enquiry (PE) into a complaint by entrepreneur Shailendra Mangal Singh, alleging a ₹350 crore fraud against his brother, Harindrapal (Harindra) Mangal Singh, chairman and managing director of Percept Ltd, and 26 others, including directors of Percept Live, Big Tree Entertainment (parent of BookMyShow) and Spacebound Web Labs.

The PE, registered on Wednesday, names 27 entities and individuals, including company directors, investors and registrars of trademarks and companies. Officials said that no first information report (FIR) had been lodged yet, as the matter was still at the assessment stage.

When contacted, Harindrapal Mangal Singh said he had not received any summons from the police and refused to comment on the case.


Queries emailed to BookMyShow remained unanswered till press time.

According to the police, the case stems from a 2017 family settlement under which the two brothers agreed to equally divide their business interests, with Shailendra first resigning from all company directorships. He has alleged that after his resignation, while he remained a shareholder, Harindrapal - in collusion with others - transferred the Sunburn intellectual property (IP) trademarks, which according to the complainant are valued at about ₹600 crore, to Spacebound Web Labs for just ₹57,000, without an authorised valuation or his consent.

According to people with knowledge of the matter, Shailendra has stated in his complaint that he had successfully launched multiple entertainment and media IPs, including Sunburn - billed as India's first international music festival - in 2007, when he was the creative head and one of the joint managing directors and promoters of Percept Ltd.

Shailendra has claimed that he and other family members were defrauded when the Sunburn IP was sold by Percept Ltd. to Percept Live for ₹65 crore - an amount neither received by Percept Ltd. nor by him or any family member. He further alleged that the IP was later undervalued and transferred from Percept Live to Spacebound Web Labs while Percept Live was under the corporate insolvency resolution process and subject to a moratorium on its assets, a senior official told ET on condition of anonymity, citing the complaint.

The complaint also alleged that Harindrapal later acquired a 40% stake in Spacebound Web Labs, subsequently selling 25% of that stake for ₹36 crore. The alleged undervaluation and sale, Shailendra claimed, deprived him of benefits from the brand, causing losses estimated at ₹350 crore.

Police officials said a PE allows investigators to summon individuals linked to the case under certain sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure. "While so far nobody has been summoned, they will be called to join the probe in due course," said a senior police official.