A Mumbai court on Saturday sentenced senior Bollywood actor Aditya Pancholi to one-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs20,000 in a 2005 assault case. However, the actor was subsequently granted bail in the case, by the court.
Magistrate Amitabh Panchbhai of Andheri court handed out one year jail term to Pancholi in the 2005 case, in which Pancholi had beaten up a tenant living in his building over a vehcile parking dispute.
The Prosecution’s case was that the actor had assaulted a person who was living in a rented accommodation in his building. The incident had taken place after the actor objected to the tenant concerned parking his vehicle in front of the car of his (Pancholi’s) friend who had come to the former.
The tenant concerned had lodged a complaint with the police against the actor, alleging that in the assault indulged on him by the actor, he had suffered a fracture in his limb.
However, immediately after the Andheri court sentenced Pancholi to one year imprisonment, the actor’s lawyers moved the court and obtained bail.
Talking to media persons after he was granted bail in the assault case, Pancholi said: "It is very harsh sentence. It's not like I was found involved in a terrorist activity or some bomb blast. I definitely will appeal against this order”.
The actor paid a bail amount of Rs 12,000 before he was allowed to leave the court.
This is not the first time that Aditya Pancholi – whose actor-son Sooraj is currently being tried in the actress Jiah Khan suicide case -- has had a run-in with the law.
Earlier, Sr Pancholi had been booked for allegedly his neighbour Bhargav Patel in 2013 and had been booked for assaulting bouncers at Juhu pub in a drunken state in Juhu in 2015. There were allegations against him that he had misbehaved with the minor maid of his ex-girl friend Pooja Bedi.