Mumbai: National Award winning music composer Ismail Darbar was today arrested in an assault case filed by an assistant director, a day after his son and two others were held in the same matter. Darbar, a well-known name in Bollywood, was taken into custody from his residence in suburban Oshiwara and later produced before a court which granted him bail, said S R Dhanedhar, Assistant Commissioner of Police (D N Nagar Division).
Yesterday, the 50-year-old music composer's son Zaid (21), his friends Nishant Singh (21) and Mohsin Khan (29) were arrested and later granted bail.
The arrests were fallout of a complaint lodged yesterday by Assistant Director Prashant Choudhary, who is involved in a payment dispute with Darbar.
The alleged assault on Choudhary took place at about 11 pm on Monday in the parking lot of a building in suburban Andheri where the Assistant Director and the Darbars stay. In his complaint, Choudhary (29) alleged Darbar had been repeatedly evading him after he sought his pending dues related to a project he did for the composer. Choudhary worked with Darbar's production house for three months from July last year before quitting due to health issues. He then went to his native place in Assam and returned to Mumbai last month.
Choudhary met Darbar, Zaid and his two friends in the parking lot on Monday night and broached the payment issue. Soon an argument broke out and took an ugly turn when Zaid and his two friends (Singh and Khan) thrashed the assistant director with hockey sticks and also punched and kicked him. The victim claimed Darbar, too, assaulted him, police said.
He approached police following which an FIR was filed against the four under IPC Sections related to voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation, among others. Darbar shot into fame for his music in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's blockbuster “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam”. The 1999 film fetched him National Film Award for Best Music Direction. Since then he has given music in several films.
