Puja Banerjee and Kunal Verma recently announced that they had fallen into a financial fraud trap. The couple publicly revealed that they were victims of a major financial fraud by someone they trusted and had lost everything in the process. They received a lot of support and sympathy from their fans and followers online. However, in a recent turn of events, it has come to light that Puja and Kunal might not have been victims of a financial trap but had allegedly tried to extort money out of a popular Bengali film producer.
Shyam Sunder Dey, a renowned Bengali film producer, has now accused Puja and Kunal of having kidnapped him in Goa. It does not just end there; the producer mentioned that the couple physically assaulted him and tried to extort money from him. Dey's wife, Malabika Dey, has now lodged an FIR complaint against the celebrity couple, who are quite popular on social media as well.
According to a Times of India report, Dey was in Goa with his family and had decided to stay back there owing to some work after his family left, post-vacation. The producer opened up about how one certain day, when he was driving a rented car on the streets of Goa, a black Jaguar came out of nowhere and "forced me to a halt." Dey was convinced that this was some kind of a misunderstanding when two men came up to him and asked him to get out of his car. However, when he noticed Puja, who has also worked quite a bit in the Bengali film industry, Shyam let his "guard down."
The producer revealed that he had been taken to a place called the Amber Villa, where he was initially kept on the first floor but was later shifted upstairs. Dey alleged that Kunal would beat him up, and even after several pleadings to Puja, she never intervened or stopped her husband from physically assaulting the producer.
Dey told the portal, "I stayed at the villa from the 1st to the 4th of June. I wasn't allowed to leave. Every day, I tried to reason with Puja and Kunal — I reminded them we were like family and pleaded with them to stop. But all I faced were threats. I told her, 'Your husband is beating me, fine. But other men are thrashing me in front of you, and you're silent?' How can this be right?"
He further went on to add, "I am not saying that the money they demanded was compensation for the abduction. Yes, we had professional transactions. But no business loss, no due payment can justify this kind of madness. Abduction or kidnapping can never be a fair or lawful way to settle anything. There is no excuse for what happened."
Malabika's post on Facebook went viral recently, where she mentioned that they would be taking action against Puja and Kunal. In the post she wrote, "Torture, kidnapping and death threats – a horrific experience perpetrated by popular actresses Pooja Banerjee and Kunal Varma.Today, with a broken heart, I share a tragic incident – one that no family should ever have to face." She added, "On May 31, 2025, my husband Mr. Shyam Sundar De, a prominent director in the Bengali film industry and producer of more than 60 films, was forcibly kidnapped, detained and threatened and beaten up by Pooja Banerjee (alias Pooja Basu), Kunal Varma and their influential associate Piyush Kothari for extortion. While in Goa on a business trip, Shyam was driving a rented car when suddenly a group led by Pooja Banerjee intercepted his path and forcibly took him to an unknown location."
She added proof of the money that they gave Puja and Kunal and wrote, "There, Shyam was physically and mentally abused and threatened with involvement in a drug case if he did not pay around ₹64,00,000. Under extreme fear and surveillance, Shyam paid ₹23,00,000—including cash to Pooja's assistant Munmun in Kolkata and RTGS transfers to Pooja and Kunal's bank accounts. We have preserved all payment receipts and transaction records."
On the other hand, Kunal and Puja have given interviews to several organisations about how they have lost all their money and were unsure about what their life would look like going forward. They had also specifically mentioned that the person who scammed them was someone whom they had known for three years.
