The Delhi High Court on Friday affirmed the conviction of Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav in multiple cheque bounce cases, rejecting the petitions filed by him and other accused challenging the trial court's ruling. The court also sentenced him to three months' simple imprisonment.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma delivered the verdict in a batch of criminal miscellaneous petitions and criminal revision petitions arising from proceedings under the Negotiable Instruments Act. The ruling relates to seven cheque bounce complaints filed by M/s Murli Projects Private Limited.
The court ordered Yadav to undergo three months' simple imprisonment in each of the seven cases, with all the sentences running concurrently.
In addition, the High Court directed Yadav to pay Rs 1.05 crore in each of the seven cases. His wife, Radha Rajpal Yadav, has also been ordered to pay a fine exceeding Rs 5 crore in each case.
While delivering the judgment, Justice Sharma observed that the actor had repeatedly been given opportunities to comply with the settlement and repay the complainant but had failed to honour his commitments.
"Opportunities were granted to honour the settlement. He [Yadav] and his counsel made several statements and assurances, and despite these repeated opportunities and assurances, he failed to honour the undertakings," the court observed, Bar and Bench reported.
The court, however, granted Yadav two months to challenge the judgment before a higher forum.
The verdict comes several months after the High Court reserved its decision on April 2 following repeated but unsuccessful attempts to facilitate a settlement between Yadav and the complainant company.
Earlier, the court had continued the interim suspension of Yadav's sentence after noting that he had already paid nearly Rs 4.25 crore to the complainant, including a demand draft of Rs 25 lakh submitted before the court.
Yadav was initially convicted by a sessions court in May 2024, which sentenced him to six months' imprisonment in the cheque bounce cases.
The High Court later suspended that sentence after his counsel assured the court that the dispute would be resolved. The matter was subsequently referred to the Delhi High Court Mediation Centre.
However, despite multiple adjournments and repeated assurances regarding a settlement, the promised payments were not made, the court noted.
The High Court observed that Yadav had failed to deposit amounts he had undertaken to pay, including Rs 2.5 crore, for which he had sought permission to pay in instalments.
In February 2026, the court directed the actor to surrender before jail authorities after finding that he had not complied with its earlier directions. His request for additional time to surrender was also turned down.
Yadav surrendered on February 5 and remained in custody until the High Court granted him interim suspension of sentence after he deposited Rs 1.5 crore with the complainant.
The court held that he did not deposit the remaining amount despite giving multiple undertakings, leading to Friday's decision upholding his conviction and imposing a three-month prison sentence.
Separately, Yadav has also figured in another cheque bounce case linked to an alleged loan dispute. A Delhi court had previously issued a non-bailable warrant against him after he allegedly failed to repay a loan, with the outstanding amount reportedly increasing to around Rs 9 crore. He was later granted interim bail.
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