Rajkumar Santoshi's lawyer Binesh Patel confirmed that the filmmaker has been granted bail in the cheque-bouncing case and that the court has postponed the judgement for the next 30 days.
During a hearing in the case on Saturday, the court ordered a two-year jail sentence for Santoshi while asking him to repay double the amount that he owes to a businessman. The Jamnagar court in Gujarat allowed filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi 30-day stay on the order to appeal against an order. It will allow Santoshi to challenge the verdict in a higher court.
In the same context, Santoshi's advocate Binesh Patel stated that they will appeal against the magisterial court's judgement. As per the statement from Rajkumar Santoshi's advocate, "First of all, the court has stayed its judgement for 30 days and granted Mr Santoshi bail after we sought time to appeal against the judgement at a higher forum," Patel said.
He added, "The prosecution didn't produce any documentary evidence to prove that Mr Santoshi had taken money at all. The prosecution itself has admitted that a third party had collected the said money from the complainant. In return the third party had provided altered 11 cheques of Rs.10 lakh each, which Mr. Santoshi was not aware.
The magisterial court overlooked these facts and ruled against us. Therefore, on the ground of invalid and false claims, alterations happened in the cheques, the fact that the complainants do not want to present or call-in the said third party who had collected the money, about Mr.Santoshi does not know.
So we shall appeal at a higher forum with the above highlighted points and even more." The complainant, Ashok Lal, a prominent industrialist and shipping magnate from Jamnagar, claimed that he received 10 cheques of Rs 10 lakh each from the filmmaker, totalling Rs 1 crore, which subsequently bounced.
Piyush Bhojani, the advocate for the businessman in the case, confirmed the sentencing to ANI on Saturday.
According to the advocate, Lal contributed Rs 1 crore to Rajkumar Santoshi's film.
Repaying the magnate, Santoshi allegedly sent him 10 cheques of Rs 10 lakh each.
Once the cheques were deposited in the bank within the stipulated time frame, they bounced, the businessman alleged, adding that he first tried to establish contact with the filmmaker over this matter.
However, he claimed that all attempts to establish contact with the filmmaker failed after which he filed a lawsuit under the Negotiable Instruments Act.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Santoshi is set to come out with his next directorial venture 'Lahore 1947', which is being produced under the banner of Aamir Khan Productions. This project marks the collaboration of Sunny Deol, Santoshi, and Aamir Khan for the first time.
This film will also mark the 17th venture under Aamir Khan Productions (AKP).
Rajkumar Santoshi and Sunny Deol combined previously to deliver three box office hits in the form of 'Ghayal,' 'Damini,' and 'Ghatak.'
