Shouldn’t be punished twice for one crime: Rajpal Yadav

Actor Rajpal Yadav says that he had to pay a heavy price for his directorial debut, Ata Pata Laapata, losing both his money and credibility. The actor, known for films like Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon (2003) and Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh (2005), was recently held guilty by a Delhi court, along with his wife Radha Yadav and their production company Shree Naurang Godavari Entertainment, for failing to repay ₹5 crore.

“There are three things. Either somebody invested ₹5 crore or somebody loaned this much money. The third thing is that Rajpal Yadav was involved in a fraud. Only one of these three things can be right. Please let me know which of these I am getting punished for,” Yadav says.

He says that Delhi-based businessman Madhav Gopal Aggarwal saw the rushes of his 2010 film and decided to invest

RAJPAL YADAV IS IN A COURT CASE OVER THE NONPAYMENT OF ₹5 CRORE THAT WAS PUT IN HIS FILM

₹5 crore through his company, Murali Projects. Yadav agreed to repay ₹8 crore with the first earnings of the film. Aggarwal’s company went to court after Yadav failed to pay the amount. More disputes arose, following which the businessman moved the Delhi High Court, seeking a stay on the release of the film.

“...These people went to the high court right when the buzz around Ata Pata Laapata was picking up. Stories started coming out that Rajpal is involved in a fraud,” says the 47-year-old actor. “The honourable high court asked us to give an undertaking and the film was cleared to release, but the negative publicity harmed us,” he adds. As for why a case was filed even before the film’s release, Aggarwal’s legal counsel SK Sharma clarifies, “Three agreements were signed between the two parties. The first had the clause that Rajpal Yadav would pay the money upon the release of the film. [But] he didn’t seem serious to us about releasing the film, so we removed that clause in subsequent agreements.”

The film was released on 190 screens but, Yadav says, that wasn’t enough to earn much. All the eight cheques issued by him for loan repayment bounced for lack of funds, and the court held him guilty.

Yadav says that the cheques that bounced were given as a security. He adds that he did, indeed, take $5 crore, but that it was Aggarwal’s investment and not a loan.

He also says, “They made me sign papers that I didn’t read”, because he trusted the other party.

This is an argument that the court has not accepted.The sentencing will take place in court on April 23.