Rajkumar Santoshi Sentenced To Two Years In Jail In Cheque Bouncing Case Amid Lahore 1947 Shoot

Filmmaker Rajkumar Santosho, who is currently working on his film Lahore 1947 with Sunny Deol, was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment by a Jamnagar court in a cheque-bouncing case. According to PTI, the complainant, Ashok Lal, a prominent industrialist and shipping magnate from Jamnagar, claimed that he received 10 cheques of ₹10 lakh reach from the filmmaker, totalling ₹1 crore, which subsequently bounced. 

Santoshi Jailed For Two Years

A court in Jamnagar in Gujarat on Saturday sentenced renowned filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi to two years in jail and also directed him to pay Rs 2 crore to the complainant in a cheque return case.  Senior Civil Judge VJ Gadhvi sentenced Santoshi to two years in jail and asked him to pay Rs 2 crore to the complainant, which is double the amount he had taken from the latter. The court then allowed Santoshi's appeal for a 30-day stay on the order to allow him to appeal in a higher court.

What is the case about?

Ashok Lal, an industrialist, in his complaint, said he had lent Rs 1 crore to Santoshi to produce a film against which the filmmaker gave him 10 cheques of Rs 10 lakh each. When the 10 cheques returned due to lack of funds in the bank account, Lal issued him a legal notice under provisions of Negotiable Instruments Act and approached a court in 2017 after Santoshi failed to return the money.

"Subsequently, the accused applied to transfer the case filed against him to a Mumbai court, which was challenged by the complainant in the sessions court. The sessions court directed that all cases against Santoshi be heard in the Jamnagar," Lal's lawyer Piyush Bhojani said.

The court then issued summons against the filmmaker but he failed to respond to it. When Santoshi did not appear in the Jamnagar court despite summons, it issued a bailable warrant against him after which he made an appearance, Bhojani said.

(With inputs from PTI)

Santoshi, a director, producer and scriptwriter, is well known for action blockbusters like Ghayal and Ghatak, the court drama Damini, and the iconic comedy film Andaz Apna Apna.