Bollywood comedian Rajpal Yadav, who is facing arrest for filing a false affidavit before the Delhi High Court, ran out of luck on Friday as the Supreme Court directed him to surrender and undergo the remaining period of six days at Tihar Jail.
Yadav was held guilty for filing a false affidavit before the High Court on December 2, 2013 following which he was sentenced to undergo 10 days imprisonment. He was facing prosecution for non-repayment of ` five-crore loan to a Delhi-based businessman MG Agarwal who filed a suit for recovery of his money in the High Court.
The actor spent four days in jail from December 3 to 6 but later got relief when the Division Bench of the Delhi HC suspended the sentence on an appeal. But things took a turn for the worse on June 3, 2016 when the Division Bench upheld the 10-day sentence order passed by the single judge and directed Yadav to surrender before Tihar Jail by July 15, which made the actor approach the apex court. The bench took serious exception to Yadav's affidavit which gave wrong details about his whereabouts and contained forged signatures of his wife.
The apex bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohington F Nariman asked Yadav's counsel whether his client was willing to make the payment and escape the jail term. His lawyer said that the actor did not have a single penny and was unable to pay the sum. The loan was obtained in the year 2010 from Agarwal's firm Murli Projects limited to finance Yadav's debut directorial production which flopped at the box office, leaving the actor bankrupt.
The bench got incensed as repeated opportunities given to Yadav to repay did not yield any result. Yadav was present personally in Court but the bench did not allow him to speak. The bench remarked, "You have got off very lightly…you should be put in jail for minimum six months. Now you surrender."
The actor pleaded to be a heard but the bench asked him to leave the Court. His counsel argued on the ground of compassion citing that in similar cases the apex court had waived off the sentence. However, the bench was adamant not to change its order.