Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma to be jailed for 3 months in cheque bounce case

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has been sentenced to three months in jail by a local court here in a cheque bounce case that has been ongoing for the past seven years and issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him. The case stems from an alleged default on a cheque worth Rs 2.38 lakh, issued to his former employee. 

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) in Andheri, Y P Pujari, on Tuesday convicted Varma for the offence punishable under the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The court has also directed the filmmaker to pay a compensation of Rs 3,72,219 to the complainant within three months from the date of the order. The detailed order was not available yet. Since Varma was not present before the court when the order was passed, it issued a standing non-bailable warrant against him for his arrest for execution of the sentence as per the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). 

The court had earlier granted bail to Varma in April 2022 on a cash security of Rs 5,000.

Varma took to social media platform X on Thursday to clarify the matter, stating, "With regard to the news about me and Andheri court, I want to clarify that it is to do with a 7-year-old case of Rs 2 lakh 38 thousand amount, relating to my ex-employee. My advocates are attending to it, and since the matter is in court, I cannot say anything further."