Delhi High Court directs actor Rajpal Yadav to surrender in cheque bounce case

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav to surrender himself before a jail superintendent for failing to make payments after being convicted in a cheque bouncing case in 2024 [Rajpal Naurang Yadav & Anr v. M/s Murli Projects Pvt Ltd & Anr]..The Court was hearing Yadav’s petition challenging a May 2024 Delhi sessions court judgment, in which he was convicted and sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for six months. Another bench of the Court had in 2024 suspended Yadav's sentence after his counsel said he was willing to amicably settle the issue with the production company he was indebted to.Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma deprecated Yadav’s conduct, observing that he sought repeated adjournments on the assurance of making payments and reaching settlement. The order stated,“This Court is of the view that the conduct of the petitioner no. 1 deserves to be deprecated. Despite repeatedly giving assurances and seeking indulgence of this Court, the petitioner no. 1 has failed to comply with the orders passed from time to time.”.The Court rejected Yadav’s explanation that the payment could not be made due to an inadvertent error in the demand draft, noting that he did not take any steps to rectify the error. Yadav had earlier asked to be allowed to pay the dues of ₹2.5 crore in two installments - ₹40 lakh by December 16, 2025 and the remaining ₹2.1 crore by January 15 this year. The Court noted that even till date, Yadav has not made the payments as he had assured.“Shockingly, even today, this Court has been informed that neither have the demand drafts been deposited with the learned Registrar General nor has the amount of ₹2.10 crores been paid,” Justice Sharma noted. .Senior Advocate Abhijat, representing Yadav, conceded that his client has been given several chances to comply. When he again offered to make the payment, the Court rejected the offer. “This Court is not inclined to accept such an assurance, particularly in light of the consistent past conduct of the petitioner no. 1,” it stated..Accordingly, the Court directed the Registrar General to release the payment to the production house. Further, the Court also directed Yadav to surrender before the concerned jail superintendent by February 4. The matter is listed for February 5..On the first date of hearing in June 2024, Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa had argued on behalf of Yadav. He stated that the cheque was a genuine transaction to finance the production of a movie. However, the movie failed at the box office, resulting in huge financial losses.On a request to amicably settle the case, the Court suspended the sessions court’s judgment on the undertaking that he will make full payments. Thereafter, the dispute was sent before the Delhi High Court Mediation Centre. Justice Sharma noted that adjournment was sought on several hearings seeking more time to enter settlement. The Court also noted that despite assurances, no payment was made in the past one year. The Court further noted that Yadav, “taking advantage” of a typographical error in the past order, delayed payment of ₹2.5 crore. However, the Court noted that this payment was not made even though Yadav had appeared on video-conferencing and given assurance. "In view of the above background and the repeated breach of undertakings given before this Court, this Court finds no justification to continue the indulgence granted to the petitioner no. 1 earlier, specially in the case as the present one, where the petitioner no. 1 himself has admitted the liability and undertaken to repay the amount," the Court stated..Advocates Harshvardhan Gupta and Satyam Gupta also appeared for Yadav. Advocate SK Sharma appeared for the production house. .[Read order] .Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.