Last month, a Mumbai court sentenced filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma to three months in jail over a cheque bounce case. The Andheri Magistrate Court announced the verdict after the case was in court for seven years. The Magistrate ordered the issuance of a standing non-bailable warrant against the filmmaker for his arrest. Notably, the ‘Satya’ maker didn’t attend the hearing. Now, Varma has challenged the ruling in the cheque bounce case by filing an appeal with the Dindoshi sessions court, seeking relief.

The court found Varma guilty under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The act penalises cheque dishonour due to insufficient funds or exceeding the account’s arranged amount. Alongside the order to generate an arrest warrant, the court also ordered him to pay 3.72 lakhs as compensation to the complainant within three months. The court added that failure to uphold the compensation order would result in an additional three months of imprisonment. Subsequently, earlier this month, Varma filed an appeal before the sessions court challenging the order.

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During the hearing on Thursday, the filmmaker’s attorney requested bail and a suspension of the sentence. Following this, the sessions court judge issued a notice to the complainant and scheduled the case for a hearing next month.

For context, a company named Shree filed a case against Varma’s firm in 2018 through Maheshchandra Mishra. The complainant stated that they deposited a cheque issued by Varma to settle the dues, but it was returned due to “insufficient funds.” Upon approaching the filmmaker, the complainant received another cheque, which also bounced. This time the reason was “payment stopped by drawer.” Following this, the complainant filed a criminal complaint with the Andheri Magistrate Court.

The filmmaker contested at the time that the cheques neither had his signature nor did he issue them. However, the magistrate rejected his defence, stating a lack of substantial evidence. In June 2022, the court granted Ram Gopal Varma bail after he provided a personal bond and a cash security of 5,000 rupees.

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Meanwhile, following reports of the sentence, the filmmaker took to social media to clarify the issue. He wrote, “With regard to the news about me and Andheri court, I want to clarify that it is to do with a 7 year old case of Rs 2 lakh 38 thousand amount, relating to my ex-employee. My advocates are attending to it. And since the matter is in court, I cannot say anything further.”