A magistrate’s court in Bombay on January 21 convicted and sentenced film producer-director Ram Gopal Varma to three months’ simple imprisonment in a 2018 cheque dishonour case. Varma was also directed to pay the complainant, Maheshchandra Mishra, a compensation of Rs. 3.72 lakh. Judicial magistrate (first class) Y.P. Pujari made it clear that if the amount was not paid within three months, Ram Gopal Varma would have to suffer additional imprisonment of three months.
Since Varma was not present on the date of judgement, the court issued non-bailable warrant against him for his arrest through the concerned police station for execution of the sentence. The filmmaker has been out on bail.
The case relates to supply of hard disks by Mishra to Varma’s office in February and March 2018, for which invoices totalling Rs. 2.38 lakh were raised. Reportedly, the filmmaker issued a cheque dated June 1, 2018, which was dishonoured when deposited. Ram Gopal Varma then issued him another cheque which, too, bounced. Following this, Mishra sent Varma a legal demand notice on September 8, 2018.