The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed actor Rajpal Yadav to deposit ₹5 crore with its Registry by Wednesday as a condition for exempting him from surrendering to serve his sentence in a cheque-bounce case involving film producer-financier Murli Projects Pvt Ltd.
Rajpal Yadav gets relief
The Court issued a conditional notice on Rajpal Yadav’s plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s July 10 judgment upholding his conviction and three-month imprisonment in seven cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The matter will next be heard on September 15.
A bench headed by the Chief Justice, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana passed the order after his plea was orally mentioned. The Delhi High Court had required the actor to surrender to serve the sentence, with September 10 being the deadline, after dismissing his criminal revisions against the conviction and sentence.
The case arises from seven complaints filed by Murli Projects against Yadav, his wife Radha Rajpal Yadav and their film production company over dishonour of seven cheques issued in connection with financing for the film Ata Pata Lapata.
About Rajpal Yadav’s case
Back in 2010, Rajpal Yadav had borrowed ₹5 crore from M/s Murali Projects Pvt Ltd for his directorial debut film, Ata Pata Laapata. However, the film turned out to be a box office flop. Rajpal’s failure to clear the dues, coupled with the accumulating interest, increased the outstanding amount to nearly ₹9 crore. This eventually led to a prolonged legal battle.
During a previous hearing, Yadav’s counsel informed the court that approximately ₹4.25 crore had already been paid to the complainant.
In 2018, a magistrate court convicted Rajpal and his wife, Radha, in the case and sentenced him to six months in jail. In 2019, the sessions court upheld the conviction, following which Yadav approached the Delhi High Court in appeal. In June 2024, the High Court temporarily suspended his sentence and directed him to take “sincere and genuine measures” to repay the nearly ₹9 crore dues.
In February, after failing to clear the dues, he surrendered and was sent to Tihar Jail. He was later granted interim bail on February 16 after depositing ₹1.5 crore, following confirmation from the complainant’s lawyer. The relief was extended, with the Delhi High Court stating that he would not be taken back into custody even after the earlier interim order was set aside. The actor also requested a 30-day extension to arrange the loan amount, but the Delhi High Court rejected his request and reserved its verdict.
During this difficult phase, several Bollywood celebrities had extended their support to Rajpal, including Sonu Sood, Ajay Devgn, Salman Khan and Gurmeet Choudhary.
(via inputs from ANI)
