Filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi gets 2 years jail in cheque return case; asked to pay Rs 2 cr to complainant

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A court in Jamnagar in Gujarat on Saturday sentenced renowned filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi to two years in jail and also directed him to pay Rs 2 crore to the complainant in a cheque return case.

Santoshi, a director, producer and scriptwriter, is well known for action blockbusters like "Ghayal" and "Ghatak", the court drama "Damini" and the iconic comedy film "Andaz Apna Apna".

Senior Civil Judge VJ Gadhvi sentenced Santoshi to two years in jail and asked him to pay Rs 2 crore to the complainant, which is double the amount he had taken from the latter.

The court then allowed Santoshi's appeal for a 30-day stay on the order to allow him to appeal in a higher court.

Ashok Lal, an industrialist, in his complaint, said he had lent Rs 1 crore to Santoshi to produce a film against which the filmmaker gave him 10 cheques of Rs 10 lakh each.

When the 10 cheques returned due to lack of funds in the bank account, Lal issued him a legal notice under provisions of Negotiable Instruments Act and approached court in 2017 after Santoshi failed to return the money.

"Subsequently, the accused applied to transfer the case filed against him to a Mumbai court, which was challenged by the complainant in the sessions court. The sessions court directed that all cases against Santoshi be heard in the Jamnagar," Lal's lawyer Piyush Bhojani said.

The court then issued summons against the filmmaker but he failed to respond to it.

When Santoshi did not appear in the Jamnagar court despite summons, it issued a bailable warrant against him after which he made an appearance, Bhojani said.

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