# Kerala High Court quashes ₹1.9 crore cheating case against Nivin Pauly 2026-10-28T07:47:03+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets The Kerala High Court on Monday, 26 October, quashed a cheating case of ₹1.9 crore against actor Nivin Pauly and director Abrid Shine after noting a settlement with complainant and producer PS Shamnas. Justice PV Balakrishnan observed the offences were not serious and chances of conviction were bleak. The court also quashed a separate forgery case against Shamnas over allegations he forged Pauly’s signature in documents submitted to the Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce. Shamnas had alleged that after losses from the film ‘Mahaveeryar’, he was promised a co-producer role in ‘Action Hero Biju 2’ and overseas rights profits. He claimed the rights were later transferred without his consent and sold to a Dubai firm for ₹5 crore. The court allowed all pleas after the public prosecutor confirmed the settlement was genuine. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both LiveLaw and Barandbench cover the quashing of the criminal cases identically as straight court reporting. Each leads with the settlement, attributes the court's reasoning verbatim, and gives the same rival complaint details. The only difference is the investment figure: LiveLaw reports the allegation as ₹3.5 to 4 crore for 'Mahaveeryar' and notes the ₹1.9 crore fraud figure, Barandbench compresses the investment into the ₹1.9 crore claim. Both are purely procedural, without any editorial stance or commentary. The uniform coverage reflects the court's own undisputed order. The story leaves open whether the overseas rights dispute will lead to further civil claims, since only criminal proceedings were quashed. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - livelaw.in (neutral report) Straight court report, identical procedure - barandbench.com (neutral report) Same court order, same facts, no slant This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: Abrid Shine, Kerala High Court, Nivin Pauly, P.V. Balakrishnan Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/kerala-high-court-quashes-rs1-9-crore-cheating-case-against-nivin-pauly/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/kerala-high-court-quashes-rs1-9-crore-cheating-case-against-nivin-pauly/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/