Actor Rajpal Yadav made headlines after he was sent to Tihar Jail in a ₹9 crore debt and cheque bounce case. The actor was granted interim bail and was released from jail on February 16. On March 18, the Delhi High Court said it will not send the actor to jail for now, as he had made substantial payments to the complainant in the cheque bounce cases against him.
Rajpal Yadav granted relief
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday declined to vacate its earlier order granting an interim suspension of sentence to Rajpal Yadav in cheque-bouncing cases and extended the relief till April 1.
A bench of justice Swarana Kanta Sharma ruled that the actor was not running away and was instead present in court and had also made “substantial payment” towards the default amount. “I don’t find any reason. He’s not running away. He’s here. He’s coming to court, and he has also been in jail. He’s already on bail; I’m not sending him to jail. He’s made some substantial payments. So I’ll not send him to jail, right now,” the bench said.
More details about the case
Earlier, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma had granted Rajpal interim bail, subject to his depositing ₹1 lakh as bail bond and furnishing one surety. Earlier in the hearing, the court had ordered Rajpal to deposit ₹1.5 crore by 3 PM for interim bail. After the complainant’s lawyer, M/S Murli Project, confirmed that the actor had deposited the amount in the company’s bank accounts against the bounced cheque amount, bail was granted.
Last month, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma ordered the actor to surrender, noting that leniency cannot be extended endlessly for anyone, regardless of their celebrity status. On February 4, 2026, the court rejected a last-minute “mercy plea” for a one-week extension to arrange funds, with the judge observing that Rajpal had failed to honour nearly 20 different undertakings in the past.
The trouble began in 2010 when Rajpal took a loan of ₹5 crore from Delhi-based Murali Projects Pvt Ltd to fund his directorial debut, Ata Pata Laapata (2012). The film’s box-office failure sparked a repayment crisis, leading to a legal battle that culminated in a Magisterial Court convicting him and his wife, Radha, in April 2018 under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
After seven cheques issued to the complainant bounced, the actor was sentenced to six months’ simple imprisonment, a conviction later upheld by a Sessions Court in early 2019. By October 2025, although Yadav deposited ₹75 lakh through two demand drafts, the court noted that the bulk of the liability remained unpaid.
