• Source:JND
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Filmmaker-producer Rajkumar Santoshi on Saturday was sentenced to two years in jail and ordered to pay Rs 2.2 crore in all to a businessman by a court in Jamnagar in the cheque return case. The court found him guilty under the Negotiable Instruments Act for not honouring 11 cheques he had issued to the businessman after borrowing Rs 1.1 crore from him. His lawyer has now issued an official statement regarding the case and said that they will appeal against the magisterial court's judgement.

His lawyer, Mr Binesh Patel, said in a statement, "First of all, the court has stayed its judgement for 30 days granted Mr.Santoshi bail after we sought time to appeal against the judgement at a higher forum."

He added, "The prosecution didn't produce any documentary evidence to prove that Mr. Santoshi had taken money at all. The prosecution itself has admitted that a third party had collected the said money from the complainant. In-return the third party had provided altered eleven cheques of Rs.10 lakh each, which Mr. Santoshi was not aware of it. The magisterial court overlooked these facts and ruled against us. Therefore, on the ground of invalid and false claims, alterations happened in the cheques, the fact that the complainants do not want to present or call-in the said third party who had collected the money, about Mr.Santoshi does not know. So we shall appeal at a higher forum with the above highlighted points and even more."

Rajkumar Santoshi made his directorial debut in 1990 with the hit movie 'Ghayal', starring Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Amrish Puri. He is well known for his blockbuster movies like 'Damini', 'Andaz Apna Apna', 'Ghatak: Lethal', 'Khakee', and others.

He won Filmfare Awards in the Best Director category for 'Ghayal' and 'Damini'. His movie 'The Legend Of Bhagat Singh' also won the National Film Award in the Best Feature Film in Hindi category and later won Best Film (Critics) at Filmfare Awards.