By Subhash K Jha

If all had gone well, Abbas-Mustan would have completed their first comedy called Mr Fraud.

However the buzz is that this Sanjay Dutt-Ajay Devgan-Bipasha Basu-Anuuj Sawhney comic caper has been shelved.

According to a source very close to the film, "Mr Fraud was doomed from the start. The unit shot a very funny schedule in London.

But then Sanju's dates went haywire. Because of his court cases Mr Fraud shows no signs of progress. And now the producers Asthvinayak have decided to use the new dates allotted by Sanju to start a new film later this year."

When contacted the gentle Abbas,of Abbas-Mustan, who is busy shooting Race in Dubai has another story to tell. "Where has this news come from? It's true that Mr Fraud has been delayed.

We were supposed to complete it in September 2006. Unfortunately because of Sanju's legal hassles the dates got cancelled. In the meanwhile we started another thriller Naqaab with Bobby Deol and Akshaye Khanna..

Now we'll revive Mr Fraud very soon and the film will be hopefully released by year- end. So we have three releases lined up this year."

As for ther ready-for-release Race here's what Abbas had to say, "It's shaped up so well. And we're working with Saif for the first time. It's such a pleasure to work with him. We hope to do many more films with him."