Controversial director Ram Gopal Varma has been sentenced to three months in jail by the Mumbai Andheri Magistrate Court in connection with a check bounce case. The case stems from a dispute with his former employee, Mahesh Chandra, involving a check worth Rs. 2.38 lakh, which was reportedly dishonored. In addition to the jail sentence, the court also issued a non-bailable warrant for Varma’s arrest.
Varma responded to the court’s ruling through a post on the X (formerly Twitter) platform, stating, “I want to clarify about the sentence imposed on me by the Andheri court. This is a matter of 7 years ago. It is a check bounce case of Rs. 2.38 lakh related to my ex-employee. My lawyers are appearing in the court on this. As the case is currently in the court, I have nothing more to say about it.”
The court also ordered that Varma must pay Rs. 3.72 lakh as compensation to the complainant within three months. If the payment is not made within the stipulated time, the director could face an additional three months of imprisonment.
The check bounce case, filed by Mahesh Chandra in 2018, has been ongoing for the past seven years. Despite the lengthy proceedings, Varma had not appeared in court until now, which prompted the issuance of the non-bailable warrant.