Mumbai Court Convicts Film Maker Ram Gopal Varma In Cheque Bounce Case, Sentences Him To Three Months Jail
A Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Mumbai recently convicted renowned film-maker Ram Gopal Varma in a cheque bounce case and sentenced him to three months simple imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 3.72 lakhs.The instant case pertains to a payment made by Varma's firm to a company called Shree, which is represented by one Maheshchandra Mishra, at least seven years ago. The filmmaker's firm...
A Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Mumbai recently convicted renowned film-maker Ram Gopal Varma in a cheque bounce case and sentenced him to three months simple imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 3.72 lakhs.
The instant case pertains to a payment made by Varma's firm to a company called Shree, which is represented by one Maheshchandra Mishra, at least seven years ago. The filmmaker's firm had paid an amount of Rs 2.38 lakhs, however, the cheque bounced. Subsequently, Mishra lodged a case against Varma under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act.
Having considered the material on record, the Court found Varma guilty of the charge against him and therefore sentenced him to three months imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 3.72 lakhs. The Court made it clear that if the fine amount is not paid to the complainant Mishra's company, within three months, then he will have to undergo a further simple imprisonment for a period of three months.
The Court noted that Varma was absent during the proceedings and therefore, it issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) for his arrest, instructing the concerned police station to execute the sentence. It clarified that since Varma has not spent a a single day in custody, during the trial, therefore his sentence cannot be set-off under Section 428 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Commenting on the court's order, Varma took to social media site X, where he wrote, "With regard to the news about me and Andheri court, I want to clarify that it is to do with a 7 year old case of Rs 2 lakh 38 thousand amount , relating to my ex-employee .. My advocates are attending to it. and since the matter is in court i cannot say anything further. It is not about settling the rupees 2.38 lakh. The contention was about refusing to be exploited in the attempts to fabricate ..Anyway that's all I can say for now."