HCgrantsShroffreliefinMSMcase

In a major relief for actor Jackie Shroff, the division bench of the Bombay High Court of Justices Ramesh Dhanuka and Virendra Bisht, on Tuesday, dismissed a plea filed by his former business partner and Singapore resident Ratnam Iyer that sought to withdraw 2 million US dollars from Shroff ’s account.

Both Shroff and his partner Iyer, were shareholders in a private firm that held shares in Multi Screen Media (MSM) private limited, which was earlier known as

Sony Entertainment Private Limited.

In April, 2010, Shroff had filed a criminal complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police disputing his signature on a document requesting a bank to find a buyer for their shares. He had filed the case against Iyer and other partners.

Subsequently, in 2011, the partners settled the dispute with Iyer agreeing to give 1.5 million US dollars to Shroff soon after he withdrew the case lodged with the EOW. Another 2 million US dollars was agreed to be paid to Shroff after his shares in MSM were sold.

The settlement had a clause, making it mandatory for Iyer to inform Shroff about the sale of the shares. And the actor was supposed to not file any complaint against Iyer.

However, in June 2011, Shroff's wife Ayesha wrote an e-mail to Iyer and informed him that they have learned that an agreement has been signed for the sale of MSM. To this, Iyer responded that the actual sale was yet to take place and, in his reply, he further said that whenever a deal would be cracked, "she might take the money and run for which she was waiting. (sic)” The response did not go well with Ayesha, who replied in another mail that “no one wished to continue to fraternize with a forger.”