Filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi sentenced to 2 years in jail, fined ₹20 lakh in cheque dishonour case

A court in Jamnagar on Saturday sentenced filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi to two years in prison along with a fine of ₹20 lakh in a cheque dishonour case [Ashok Haridasbhai Lal vs Rajkumar Pyarelal Santoshi]..Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Vishal Jagdishkumar Gadhavi observed that Santoshi had failed to rebut the presumption in favour of the holder of the cheque under section 139 of the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act. ."When execution of the cheque is proved by the complainant, it was upon accused to rebut the presumption provided under Section-139 of N.I.Act. Mere cross-examination of the complainant is not sufficient to rebut such presumption when execution of the cheque is duly proved by the complainant. Mere denial by the complainant in cross-examination for certain fact is not at all sufficient to rebut presumption under Section-139 of N.I.Act," the Court said..As per a complaint by one Ashok Haridasbhai Lal through his power of attorney (POA) holder, a cheque for ₹10 lakh given by Santoshi to the complainant was returned from the bank due to a mismatch in the drawer's signature.Advocate KD Bhatt for the complainant informed the Court that despite service of legal notice, Santoshi had failed to repay a legal debt, prompting the complaint. .As per Santoshi, the complaint was false and no cheque had been given for legal debt. He said that the cheque was not signed and was given as security against a transactions that had since been settled.Further, he alleged that the date of the cheque was modified from December 1, 2016 to December 7, 2016. For this, he produced a photocopy of the cheque before he gave it to the complainant..The Court noted that despite stating that the transaction for which the cheque was given as security was complete, Santoshi had not produced proof of the same. In fact, the statement led the Court to conclude that there were indeed transactions between the complainant and Santoshi, for which the cheque was written.Based on the documents and evidence on record, the Court concluded that the complainant had successfully proved the execution of the cheque. Furthermore, it noted that Santoshi had on one hand claimed that he had not signed the cheque but on the other, had produced a photocopy of the cheque that had his signature.Therefore, the Court held that Santoshi had failed to rebut the presumption under section 139 of NI Act. Accordingly, it sentenced Santoshi to 2 years in prison and directed him to pay ₹20 lakh as compensation to the complainant..[Read Judgment]