Acclaimed filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has been sentenced to three months imprisonment in Mumbai in a long-standing cheque-bouncing case. This judgment will finally close a legal tussle that dragged on for years. A non-bailable warrant has also been issued against him. The Andheri Magistrate Court had fixed Tuesday, January 21, as the date for the pronouncement of the verdict in the cheque bounce case, a day before the filmmaker announced his next film Syndicate.
The case spanned seven years
However, Ram Gopal Varma decided to stay away from the hearing. A report states that after the case hearing lasted for seven years, the Mumbai court issued a non-bailable warrant against him today. Ram Gopal Varma is found guilty of violating Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
Ram may get extra time for imprisonment
The law prescribes punishment for ‘dishonor of a cheque due to insufficient funds or exceeding the amount prescribed in the account.’ Apart from the jail term, Ram Gopal Verma would have to pay Rs 3.75 lakhs as compensation to the complainant, failing which an additional imprisonment of three months shall be imposed on him.
What is the issue of the case?
This action started with filing a complaint in verse Maheshchandra Mishra through Shree Company against RGV firm in 2018, in which she alleged that a cheque issued by RGV got dishonored due to insufficient funds. The channel director management was provided with a personal bond and deposit for Rs 5,000, after the grant of bail in June 2022 as secured by a magistrate observing that there was no question of a ‘set off’ under Section 428 of the CrPC, as the accused Ram Gopal Varma had not been in custody during the trial. However, after a few hearings and legal battles, the filmmaker finally found himself on the wrong side of the bars for having suitable proof for the allegations.
