Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav will now have to serve out remainder six days of the jail term for not paying back the money to a businessman here as the Supreme Court today refused to take note of his plea that he cannot repay as his film bombed at the box office.
Yadav's response at the outset that he has no money to pay back irked the bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman which said, "no further arguments. You have got rid of murder...We were thinking of sending you to jail for six months."
The comedian has moved the apex court challenging the the Delhi High Court verdict asking him to surrender before Tihar Jail to serve out the remainder six days of the total 10-day imprisonment awarded to him in 2013 for filing a false affidavit in court.
Yadav had spent four days in jail from December 3, 2013 till December 6, 2013 after which a division bench of the High Court had suspended the sentence on his appeal.
During the hearing today, the counsel appearing for Yadav, told the bench that his client has no money to pay back as his last movie "BHOPAL: A prayer for rain" also tanked at the box office.
On July 25, the apex court had pulled up Yadav for not paying money despite giving repeated undertakings before court, saying his conduct in the case was "inexplicable".
The High court had upheld the sentence awarded by a single judge in December 2013, saying Yadav's "failure to follow procedure cannot be countenanced" as despite being given adequate time to explain his conduct "he resorted to falsehood".
The contempt action was initiated against the actor for
misleading the court in a recovery suit filed against him and his wife by a businessman.
The single judge bench, which was hearing the recovery suit, had taken exception to the affidavit filed by Yadav on December 2, 2013 which was allegedly falsely prepared and contained forged signatures of his wife.
Annoyed by the affidavit, the court had ordered that Yadav be sent to jail for 10 days for contempt and directed that his wife, who had appeared with their child before the court, be kept in the office of the Registrar General till the rising of the court.
Delhi-based businessman M G Agarwal, owner of Murli Projects, had filed a recovery suit against the actor and his wife for failing to repay a loan of Rs five crore which Yadav had taken in 2010 to make his directorial debut film 'Ata Pata Laapata' in 2012.
