The Supreme Court on Tuesday exempted actor Rajpal Yadav from surrendering in multiple cheque bounce cases, subject to his depositing ₹5 crore with the Registry by September 9 (Wednesday) [Rajpal Naurang Yadav & Anr v. M/S Murli Projects Pvt Ltd]. .A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana also issued conditional notice on Yadav’s plea challenging his conviction and 3-month jail sentence by the Delhi High Court. The matter will next be heard on September 15..The case concerns a ₹5 crore amount received by Yadav and wife from a private entity named Murli Projects in connection with a film being produced by Yadav. The parties entered into 4 agreements as the film could not be completed within the agreed timelines. Under the third agreement, Yadav gave 8 security cheques to Murli Projects.The third agreement was subsequently replaced by a fourth agreement, described as a consent agreement dated April 21, 2013. According to Yadav’s plea, the consent agreement provided for the return of the 8 security cheques and issuance of 4 fresh cheques of ₹10 crore each.Yadav alleges that Murli Projects did not return the 8 security cheques and instead presented 7 of them, which were dishonoured. This led to the criminal complaints against Yadav and his wife..In May 2024, a sessions court had convicted Yadav and sentenced him to 6 months' jail. The Delhi High Court later suspended his sentence after his counsel assured the Court that the dispute would be settled. The matter was even referred to the Delhi High Court Mediation Centre.However, the Court later observed that despite repeated assurances and several adjournments sought for settlement, the actor failed to make the promised payments. The High Court noted that Yadav had not deposited amounts he had assured the Court he would pay, including ₹2.5 crore that he had sought permission to pay in instalments.In February 2026, the High Court directed Yadav to surrender before jail authorities for failing to comply with its earlier orders. His subsequent plea seeking extension of time to surrender was also rejected. Yadav ultimately surrendered on February 5 and remained in jail until the High Court later granted him interim suspension of sentence after he deposited ₹1.5 crore with the complainant.However, since he failed to deposit the remaining amount despite several undertakings, the Court sentenced him to imprisonment for 3 months..Yadav's plea before the top court argues that the subsequent consent agreement made the earlier cheques invalid and that the complaints based on those cheques were, therefore, not maintainable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act..Advocate Saurabh Trivedi appeared for Rajpal Yadav..[Read Order]
