Mumbai: Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff’s wife Ayesha Shroff has alleged that an employee of their family-owned business MMA Matrix, which organizes MMA events (fights) in India and abroad, allegedly siphoned off Rs 49.8 lakh from the company between 2018 and January 2023. Santacruz police registered an FIR against the former employee—Alan Fernandes—on June 8, based on Shroff’s complaint that was filed in April.

Till Friday, the police did not make any arrests in the case. Santacruz police senior inspector Rajendra Kane confirmed the FIR was registered against Fernandes under IPC sections for criminal breach of trust, cheating, and forgery. He said action will be initiated once they complete the probe.

In her complaint, Shroff said Fernandes had been using a fake letterhead of the company that showed him as the CEO of the company to partner with other organizations for several events for which he pocketed crores of rupees.

“He collected money from her clients on nine occasions for the events and transferred it to his and two other bank accounts. The fraud came to light on April 15, when the money collected for 11 martial arts fight and events organized between 2018 and 2023, was not credited into the company’s account. After he was confronted, he stopped coming to work,” the FIR said.

On May 25, Fernandes posted through his Instagram handle that he has filed a civil suit in the Mumbai HC, claiming Rs 50 crores, and a criminal written complaint on April 15 against MMA Matrix LLP and its other owners — Ayesha Shroff and Tiger Shroff — for threatening to finish him, his family and his career in MMA.

"On April 15, on the pretext of a regular meeting at the MFN office, I was framed under a financial fraud of Rs. 2 crores. When I refused to sign such baseless allegations and sign the agreement. . . I was pressurized and threatened with political connections,” Fenandes alleged through his post.