Alia Bhatt’s former personal assistant, Vedika Prakash Shetty, was arrested by the Juhu Police on Tuesday evening for allegedly cheating the actress and her production house of over Rs 76 lakh. The case has caught everyone’s attention, mainly because it involves such a large sum of money and someone who was once very close to Alia.Who is Vedika Prakash Shetty?Vedika had worked as Alia’s personal assistant for over two years, a job that ended last year. Reportedly, during this time, she managed many of Alia’s personal and business affairs, including looking after the operations of her production house, Eternal Sunshine Productions Pvt Ltd.From handling schedules to managing money matters, Vedika was trusted with many important tasks. But things took a shocking turn when she was accused of forging Alia’s signature and siphoning off huge sums of money.As someone who was trusted with finances, it was expected she would always act in Alia’s best interests. But the police claim that she instead used this trust to her own advantage by forging Alia’s signature and moving large sums of money to her own accounts, reported IANS.How the fraud came to lightThe matter first came to notice earlier this year. The case was registered on January 23 after Alia received an invoice from Vedika for a payment linked to an event. But something about it didn’t seem right. Alia decided to double-check and called the number on the invoice. To her surprise, the call went to a friend of Vedika’s.This raised a big red flag. Alia then decided to audit her accounts, and what she found was shocking. Vedika had allegedly committed a forgery of over Rs 76 lakh.Complaint filed by Alia’s mother Soni RazdanAs per a News18 report, Vedika has been accused of swindling an amount of Rs 76,90,892 from both Eternal Sunshine’s funds and Alia’s personal accounts. This happened between 2023 and 2025. A complaint was filed by Alia’s mother, actor Soni Razdan, earlier this year. She alleged financial misconduct, which led to an FIR being registered and an investigation starting.After the case was registered, Vedika kept moving from one city to another to avoid arrest. “Ever since the case was registered in January, Shetty has been moving from Mangaluru to Rajasthan to Pune and was finally tracked down in Bengaluru,” said an officer from Juhu police station to TOI. She even tried to get legal protection. Her bail application was rejected by the sessions court in May. Later, the Bombay High Court also turned down her plea for interim protection from arrest in June.Finally arrested in BengaluruOn Tuesday evening, nearly five months after the complaint was filed, Vedika was finally arrested by a team of Mumbai Police from Bengaluru. Police sources told Hindustan Times that they are now checking her bank accounts and financial records to see the complete picture of how the money was moved.So far, neither Alia nor her team has given an official statement about the matter.Alia’s upcoming workAlia’s work schedule looks packed as she will next be seen in ‘Alpha’, a spy thriller that also stars Sharvari. It is set to release in cinemas this December.She is also shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Love and War’, where she stars alongside her husband Ranbir Kapoor and actor Vicky Kaushal.
