The Delhi high court on March 11 granted three officials of Reliance Entertainment two weeks to purge themselves of contempt by paying the dues in the Rs. 168-crore dispute with T-Series. The court found Reliance Entertainment Studios Pvt. Ltd. and its officials — Dhruv Sinha, Pushpak Vivek Shah and Sachin Savla — guilty of contempt in a long-running dispute linked to dues claimed by Super Cassettes Industries Pvt. Ltd. and intentionally ignoring previous orders to deposit required funds. As a penalty, the judge sentenced the three men to four weeks in jail. However, this sentence is temporarily on hold for two weeks to give them one last chance to make things right.
To completely avoid prison, they must pay the remaining shortage of Rs. 3.13 crore with a 12.5% annual interest rate, as well as 12.5% interest on the payments they previously made late. In the meantime, to ensure that they cooperate, the three men must appear before a court official on March 16 to post a bail bond of Rs. 1 lakh each. If they pay everything they owe, before the two-week deadline is up, the jail sentence will be cancelled and the bail requirements will be dropped.
The contempt finding stems from the court’s earlier directions in late 2023, when Reliance Entertainment was asked to disclose receivables and deposit admitted amounts as part of the recovery proceedings. The court noted that Reliance Entertainment did not meet the two-week deadline set in December 2023. It later deposited Rs 2.32 crore in May 2025, but the court held that the delay amounted to wilful non-compliance.
A key component involved an expected receivable of Rs 7.42 crore from Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. The court noted that only Rs 4.29 crore was received, leaving a shortfall of Rs 3.13 crore. Reliance Entertainment has been directed to deposit the remaining amount along with applicable interest within two weeks.
The dispute dates back to a 2021 loan agreement under which T-Series lent Rs. 168 crore to Reliance to partially finance six films. The agreement also provided for interest at 12.5%, along with a share of revenue generated by the projects. T-Series later moved court seeking recovery of around Rs 60 crore, citing default.