We hope he is not acting: Supreme Court on Rajpal Yadav's request to extend deadline to deposit ₹5 crore

The Supreme Court on Tuesday remarked that the past conduct of Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav in connection with multiple cheque bounce cases against him does not inspire confidence [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 nevertheless granted two more weeks to Yadav to deposit ₹5 crore with the court registry as a condition to avoid jail time.

The Court had on September 8 exempted him from surrendering subject to his depositing the money by September 9.

His counsel today sought an extension of the time by two weeks to deposit the amount.

"He has already suffered jail time - about four and a half months. Kindly give him two weeks. Kindly call it after two weeks. I will try to comply," Senior Advocate PS Patwalia said on behalf of Yadav.

"He is an actor in Bollywood. We hope he is not acting here also. His past conduct does not inspire confidence. As a last opportunity, two weeks’ time is granted to honor the order. Post the matter thereafter. The exemption granted from surrendering shall continue till October 5," the Court today said.

The Court added that Yadav will have to submit his passport with the Court for now.

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 four agreements as the film could not be completed within the agreed timelines.

Under the third agreement, Yadav gave eight 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 eight security cheques and issuance of four fresh cheques of ₹10 crore each.

Yadav alleges that Murli Projects did not return the eight security cheques and instead presented seven of them, which were dishonoured. This led to the criminal complaints against Yadav and his wife.

In May 2024, a sessions court convicted Yadav and sentenced him to six 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 High 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 an 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 an 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 three months.

This has now been challenged before the Supreme Court.

According to Yadav's plea, the subsequent consent agreement made the earlier cheques invalid and 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.

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