Cheque Bounce Cases: Delhi High Court Refuses To Send Rajpal Yadav To Jail For Now, Says 'Substantial Payment Made'

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that it will not send Bollywood actor Rajpal Naurang Yadav to jail for now, as he had made substantial amount of payment to the complainant in the cheque dishonour cases against him.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma asked actor's counsel to make submissions on the petitions filed by him challenging his conviction in the cases.

The matter was listed today on the expiry of interim suspension of Yadav's sentence granted by the Court on February 16.

At the outset, the counsel appearing for Yadav said that they were moving another application seeking suspension of sentence.

On this, the Court orally remarked:

“I am not sending him to jail. I will be hearing the main petition…. He has already made substantial payment.”

The actor was present in the Court in person.

The Court said that either the actor can inform if he has to honour the consent agreement by paying the complainant or argue the matter on merits.

The actor's counsel then said that he will come back with instructions.

As the counsel representing the opposite side said that the application seeking vacation of suspension of sentence is pending, the Court said:

“He is not running away. He is still here….. If the money has to come to you, it will come. I will decide it within a week. He is not running away. He is here. He has been in jail. What else do we need in a 138?”

The Court listed the matter for hearing next on April 01. Interim order for suspension of sentence to continue till the next date of hearing, the judge said.

Earlier, the Court had directed the actor to surrender before the Jail Superintendent, Tihar, immediately, while saying that the Court cannot be expected to show or create special circumstances for any person merely because such a person belongs to a particular background or industry.

On February 02, the Court had asked Yadav to surrender, after coming down heavily on him for repeatedly breaching undertakings given to the Court regarding payment of settlement amounts in cheque dishonour cases.

Justice Sharma had observed that the conduct of the actor “deserves to be deprecated”, noting that despite several opportunities and considerable leniency shown by the Court, Yadav failed to honour the payment commitments made to the complainant company, M/s Murli Projects Pvt. Ltd.

Title: SH. RAJPAL NAURANG YADAV & ANR v. M/S. MURLI PROJECTS PVT. LTD & ANR