Legendary filmmaker Kamal Amrohi‘s property was under scrutiny when his son Shandar Amrohi who regarded Preity Zinta as his adopted daughter said he would give her Rs 600 crore of his inheritance property. While this never happened as Preity was not adopted by him, there was a bitter fallout when Preity sought to recover Rs 2 crore from his legal heirs.Shandar, who reportedly regarded Zinta as a daughter, was locked in a prolonged property battle with his siblings, Tajdar and Rukhsar. Zinta claimed that she had financially supported Shandar during his legal struggles, paying lawyers’ bills and other expenses with the understanding that the money would eventually be repaid. After Shandar died in August 2011, she said she approached his family for repayment but received no response. She subsequently approached the Bombay High Court in November 2013, seeking Rs 2 crore along with around Rs 80 lakh in interest.The claim did not go down well with Tajdar Amrohi. He questioned why Zinta had waited roughly two years after Shandar’s death to seek the money and argued that he could not be held responsible for a financial arrangement about which he claimed to have no knowledge. Tajdar also maintained that he had never been a witness to any alleged loan transaction between Zinta and his brother.The dispute subsequently moved through several stages in the Bombay High Court. In 2013-14, the court directed Shandar’s legal heirs to disclose details of bank accounts operated by them and by Shandar, providing Zinta with interim procedural relief. But there was no final judgment awarding Zinta the claimed Rs 2 crore—or rejecting her entire claim—at that stage.Now in a recent interview, Vickey Lalwani, Tajdar has opened up on the matter, “Maine case kar diya tha. Maine ye paise diye the aur mujhe wapas chahiye the. Kal jab Shandaar mar gaye, toh maine jawab diya tha ki unke mar jaane ke itne din baad kyun? Unki zindagi mein kyun nahi maanga? Ye controversy us waqt kyun nahi khadi hui, jab woh zinda the? Poora silsila kya tha? (“=When Shandaar passed away, I responded by asking, why demand the money so many days after his death? Why wasn’t it asked for while he was alive? Why did this controversy not arise when he was alive? What exactly was the whole sequence of events?)”He added further that Preity demanded Rs 2.5 crore back with interested which she claimed to have given it to Shandar. He added, “Aree, tumne paise diye the toh koi raseed hogi, koi proof hoga. Kiske saamne diye the?”Tajdar further denied that there was any inheritance worth Rs 600 crore which Shandar had promised to give Preity. “Jab Kamal Studio bik raha tha, tab baat chal rahi thi ki unka share 600 crore ka hai aur main woh unhe de doonga. Ye bilkul galat hai, because there was no Rs 600 crore. He didn’t adopt her as his daughter.”Talking further about his brother Shandar and why he did so, Tajdar said, “The problem was that Shandaar had a complex. God forgive me, one should not speak about someone in this manner, especially when they are no longer in this world. He had this complex about being the elder son, that people know me too. I am also there. People know Tajdar Amrohi in the way they do…”He further said, “My brother had this flaw that he used to send her gifts. Sometimes he would send a refrigerator, sometimes a watch. Preeti didn’t even know him. He used to send her gifts as a fan. Yes, he was a fan, and he knew that people would talk about it. Come on, you don’t just send someone a refrigerator like that.”“The refrigerator was one thing, but there was also a watch. There was the refrigerator too. I don’t know what all there was. There were several things. I don’t want to get into all that now, but he used to send her gifts,” he further revealed.For those not in the know, as of now, Court records show that the underlying matter, Suit No. 853 of 2013, remained pending for years. As recently as June 2023, the Bombay High Court was still passing procedural orders in the case; the matter was adjourned to enable HSBC Bank to comply with earlier directions.So, contrary to claims that the court had finally ruled in Zinta’s favour or against her, the available court record does not show a final verdict on her Rs 2-crore recovery suit. The litigation has remained pending, with the court issuing interim/procedural directions rather than determining the ultimate monetary claim.
