Mumbai: Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav was yesterday remanded to 10 days judicial custody by the Delhi High Court, for concealing facts about a recovery suit filed against him and his wife by a Delhi-based entrepreneur, MG Agarwal. The court earlier noted that the couple has repeatedly breached the undertakings given by them to repay the Rs 5 crore loan amount, which the actor had taken in 2010 for ‘Ata Pata Laapata’, his directorial debut.
Taking strong exception to the absence of Yadav and his wife in court regarding the suit, the Delhi High Court had, on Monday, set a deadline of December 3 for appearing before the court, with Justice Murlidhar warning the couple that they’ll be issued non-bailable warrants for their repeated failure to appear before him. On Monday, Rajpal turned up, but his wife Radha failed to appear. On Tuesday, during the hearing, Justice Murlidhar asked Radha to remain present in the Registrar General’s office till the rising of the court. The judge also issued a contempt of court notice against the two lawyers representing the couple, apart from stating Rajpal be taken into custody. Interestingly, as soon as the news of Rajpal being taken to custody appeared online, enterprising twitterati lost no time in pointing out that he was a political’s star campaigner, and was in Delhi to campaign for AAP, and how this arrest has been timed to perfection.
While jokes on the lines of “Delhi’s Tejpal in Goa, Mumbai’s Rajpal Yadav in Delhi, Delhi’s Asaram Bapu in Jodhpur. Jails seem to be the new tourist hub” (amit pandey @crazysailor) did the rounds, there were also comments like AAP Star Campaigner in jail for unaccounted for 5 Crore Money!!! (Amit Kumar @ideasurf)
Case so far In 2010, Rajpal Yadav took a loan of `5 crore from Delhi-based businessman, MG Agarwal of Murli Projects Pvt Ltd. In October 2012, Murli Projects Pvt Ltd filed a cheating case against Rajpal Yadav. Their lawyer argued that they signed two contracts with Yadav, which gave Murli Projects the rights to the music and overall production of the movie. However, Agarwal alleged that Yadav went behind his back and released the music independently, and also declared the release date of the movie. On May 13, 2013, a single judge bench held Yadav couple guilty of contempt of court and convicted him, after referring to various undertakings and assurances given by the couple to court for repayment of the loan with 30% rate of interest. It was based on the contempt plea filed by Murli Projects Pvt Ltd in its recovery suit against Yadav and his company Shree Navrang Godavari Entertainment Ltd after it failed to repay the loan amount with interest by June 30, 2011. The company said that the actor, on October 11, 2012 had told the court that he had entered into an agreement with PVR Pictures Ltd for the release of his movie and assured the court that the company would pay the settled amount of Rs 11 crore and the same would be deposited with Registrar General of the court within a week but he failed to honour his promise. Further, the plea alleged that a day before release of his film on November 1, 2012, he again assured the court and issued a cheque of Rs seven crore to his financier but the same was dishonoured On May 25, 2013, the Delhi High Court issued a stay order on the May 13 conviction, and fixed May 27 for the sentence On December 2, 2013, the despite warnings of a non-bailable warrant being issued against them, Rajpal came to the court before lunch without his wife, Radha, even after repeated instructions to her lawyer. On December 3, 2013, Rajpal Yadav is remanded to 10 days judicial custody, and his last three months’ bank statement and film assignment details asked for by the court.
