Gujarat High Court grants interim bail to filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi in cheque bounce case

The Gujarat High Court on Monday granted ad interim bail to Bollywood filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi, who was earlier sentenced to two years in prison along with a ₹20 lakh fine after a trial court had found him guilty in a check dishonor case [Rajkumar Santoshi v. State of Gujarat & Anr.]..Justice MR Mengdey of the High Court granted relief to Santoshi after his counsel submitted that out of the total amount of ₹22.5 lakhs that is allegedly due, the filmmaker has already deposited ₹6 lakhs before the sessions court while filing an appeal against his conviction. Further, the Court noted that Santoshi was willing to pay the remaining amount of ₹16.5 lakhs to the Court's registry.Thus, it granted ad interim bail to Santoshi until the next date of hearing, February 13, 2025. .In February this year, a magistrate court in Gujarat convicted Santoshi in a cheque dishonor case under the Negotiable Instruments Act (NI Act) and sentenced him to two years of imprisonment and a fine of ₹20 lakhs.His appeal before the sessions court was also dismissed. Thus he moved the High Court challenging his conviction and sentence. .Santoshi's counsel raised several grounds before the High Court. He argued that there were contradictions between the initial complaint and the notice issued to Santoshi under Section 138 (dishonor of cheque for insufficiency of funds) of the NI Act.The counsel added that there were inconsistencies in the complainant’s statements during the trial. In this regard, he pointed out that the complainant initially claimed he gave a certain sum of money to Santoshi without providing specific details about the transaction. It was only during cross-examination that the complainant revealed, for the first time, that it was his wife who had paid ₹20 lakhs to Santoshi in 2010.The film director's counsel added that the complainant later admitted that Santoshi had not only repaid the entire ₹20 lakhs but had also paid an additional ₹17.5 lakhs, bringing the total repayment to ₹37.5 lakhs.Moreover, the complainant during cross-examination, submitted that he was entitled to receive ₹60 lakh from Santoshi against his ₹20 lakhs. In this way, he claimed that after receiving ₹37.5 lakhs from Santoshi, a balance of ₹22.5 lakhs was still due..After hearing preliminary submissions, the High Court proceeded to grant Santoshi ad interim bail since he has already deposited ₹6 lakhs with the sessions court registry to file his appeal, apart from being ready with a demand draft to deposit the remaining amount during his appeal..Advocate Nimit Y Shukla appeared for Rajkumar Santoshi.