Popular comedian and actor Kapil Sharma has filed a complaint with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against car designer Dilip Chhabria. Just a few days back, the comedian made it to the headlines after modifying a vanity van from Dilip that showed possible signs of extracting money from him.

Recently, the comedian informed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that Dilip Chhabria, who is accused of deceiving several celebrities, resorted to illegal means of extracting money from him, adding that the DC Motors owner also tried to shift blame for the non-delivery of a customized vehicle.

In response to this, the ED has recorded the statement of Mohammed Hamid, the authorized representative of Sharma, as part of its charge sheet filed against Chhabria in a money laundering case.

On Wednesday, a special PMLA court, also taking cognizance of the chargesheet issued summons to Chhabria and six others accused in the case and asked them to appear before it on February 26.

The ED case is based on three FIRs registered against the accused, including a cheating case filed by Sharma.

In his statement before ED, the Kapil’s representative said that Sharma, the sole proprietor of K9 Productions, had approached Chhabria for the purchase of a customized vanity van in December 2016. Subsequently, an agreement was implemented between K9 Productions and Dilip Chhabria Design Private Limited (DCDPL) in March 2017 for the delivery of a customized vanity van for Rs 4.5 crore (excluding taxes), he said. A payment of Rs 5.31 crore (including taxes) was also made by Sharma’s production house as per agreed terms.

According to Hamid, DCDPL neither delivered the promised vanity van to Sharma nor refunded any money.

On being asked about the delay in work on the vanity van, Chhabria told Hamid, who had gone to the car designer’s Pune facility to inspect the vehicle, that all the materials for its interiors had been purchased and kept in a warehouse. Chhabria talked about his stressed financial status and need for funds, the actor’s representative said.

Later, Chhabria sent an additional quotation for Rs 54,20,800 to Sharma and sought the funds for the delivery of the vehicle. The sudden demand for additional money raised doubt in Sharma’s mind. When questioned about his intention to extract money from the actor, Chhabria took an inimical approach, the statement said.

The accused started sending mail correspondence to Sharma, falsely blaming him for the non-timely inspection of the vanity van and citing the same as the reason for the non-delivery of the vehicle, it said.

Sensing his intention to cheat, Sharma took legal steps and sent notice of recovery to the car designer’s firm on April 18, 2019, the actor’s representative said in the statement.