Rajkumar Santoshi, one of the highly acclaimed directors in Hindi cinema has been sentenced to jail. The filmmaker was currently gearing up for his upcoming directorial Lahore 1947. It has been reported that he has landed himself into a legal fiasco. Santoshi has been jailed by a court in Jamnagar for a cheque bounce case.
The sentence is up to two years. The filmmaker has been ordered by the court to pay twice the amount that the complaint was asking for. The complainant is Ashok Lal, who claimed he loaned Rajkumar Santoshi Rs 1 crore in 2015 for a film. To repay the loaned money, Rajkumar signed 10 cheques of Rs 10 lakhs each.
However, the cheques got bounced in December 2016. When Ashok Lal got knowledge of this matter, he tried to contact the director. When he was unable to get in reach with him, the complainant lodged a suit against Rajkumar under the Negotiable Instruments Act.
On the 15th of April 2023, the court ordered the director to pay Rs 15,000 for every cheque that bounced. The total amount sums up after adding the fine of 10 cheques goes up to Rs 1.50 lakhs. However, he refused to accept the court hearings. And even when he accepted, Rajkumar refused to go to the court. The court then ordered to issue a bailable warrant against him, to make him present before the court.
But, today on the 17th of February, the court has given a judgement, ordering two years of jail imprisonment. Moreover, he will also have to pay twice the amount, which becomes Rs 2 crores. Now, it will be intriguing to witness if Rajkumar gets bail, and avoids going to jail or paying the money back.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Rajkumar Santoshi delivered two movies last year, Bad Boy and Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh. The former movie starred Mithun Chakraborty’s son Namashi in the debutant role. He will also be directing Lahore 1947, which stars Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta in key roles. The movie will also have Aamir Khan’s cameo appearance.
