Kushal Tandon on energy drink scam: ‘Only one to be paid after I posted about the fraud’

Tejasswi Prakash, Karan Kundrra, Ankita Lokhande, Arjun Bijlani, Abhishek Bajaj and Kushal Tandon

In a shocking development, 25 celebrities were allegedly duped of Rs 1.48 crore by an Indore-based energy drink company. The brand reportedly defaulted on the remuneration promised to television actors Tejasswi Prakash, Ankita Lokhande, Abhishek Bajaj and many more, who promoted the drink through Instagram Reels last year. Recently, Roshaan Garry Bhinder - the founder of the talent management agency that brokered the deal between the stars and the brand - filed a complaint against its alleged owners Tanish Chhajed, Manu Shrivastava and their associates at the Chembur Police Station.

When mid-day reached out to actor Kushal Tandon, who was the first to flag off the alleged fraud last November, he said that Bhinder approached him for the endorsement. "We had to make a reel on Instagram. Roshaan told me the payment would be made within a month [of doing the job], but I didn't receive any payment even after three months. Roshaan then gave me a cheque, which bounced. [She then admitted] that the brand's team had not made any payments to her," he recounted. Tandon added that he then reached out to Chhajed and warned that he'd post about the lack of payments, on social media. "I was the first to post about the fraud. When [Chhajed] requested me to remove the post, I said, ‘Give me my fees and I'll remove it', which he did. I'm probably the only one to be paid," said Tandon.

ShivShakti actor Arjun Bijlani escaped by a hair's breadth. The norm is that actors are paid an advance, but the company refused to comply with it. "It was [told] that the brand [belongs to] Surya Kumar Yadav. When I told [Chhajed] that I will ask [the cricketer] personally, they told me not to speak to him," said Bijlani, the event raising his suspicion. Jubilee Talkies actor Abhishek Bajaj wasn't as lucky. "I was told I'd be paid within a month; it has been six months since," he rued.
Bhinder, Prakash, Lokhande and Karan Kundrra didn't respond until press time.

25
Number of celebrities reportedly duped by the energy drink brand