NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Friday upheld the conviction of Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav in multiple cheque bounce cases and sentenced him to three months’ simple imprisonment, dismissing the petitions filed by him and others challenging the trial court’s judgment.Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma pronounced the verdict in a batch of criminal miscellaneous petitions and criminal revision petitions arising out of proceedings under the Negotiable Instruments Act. The judgment covers seven cheque bounce cases filed by M/s Murli Projects Private Limited.The court sentenced Yadav to three months’ simple imprisonment in each of the seven cases, with all the sentences to run concurrently.The high court also directed Yadav to pay Rs 1.05 crore in each case. His wife, Radha Rajpal Yadav, has also been directed to pay a fine of more than Rs 5 crore in each case.While pronouncing the judgment, Justice Sharma said the actor had been given several opportunities to honour the settlement and repay the complainant but failed to do so.“Opportunities were granted to honour the settlement. He [Yadav] and his counsel made several statements and assurances, and despite these repeated opportunities and assurances, he failed to honour the undertakings,” the court observed, Bar and Bench reported.The judge also granted Yadav two months to challenge the order before a higher court.The judgment comes months after the high court reserved its verdict on April 2, following repeated but unsuccessful attempts to facilitate a settlement between Yadav and the complainant company.Earlier, the High Court had extended interim suspension of his sentence after noting that the actor had already paid around Rs 4.25 crore to the complainant company, including a demand draft of Rs 25 lakh submitted before the court.Yadav was originally convicted and sentenced in May 2024 by a sessions court, which awarded him six months’ imprisonment in the cheque bounce cases.The Delhi HC later suspended the sentence after his counsel assured the court that the dispute would be settled. The matter was also referred to the Delhi high court Mediation Centre.However, the court later observed that despite repeated assurances and several adjournments sought for settlement, Yadav failed to make the promised payments.The high court observed that the actor had not deposited amounts he had assured the court he would pay, including Rs 2.5 crore, which he had sought permission to pay in instalments.In February 2026, the Delhi HC directed Yadav to surrender before jail authorities after finding that he had failed to comply with its earlier orders. His plea seeking more time to surrender was also rejected.Yadav surrendered on February 5 and remained in jail until the High Court granted him interim suspension of sentence after he deposited Rs 1.5 crore with the complainant.However, the court held that he failed to deposit the remaining amount despite several undertakings, leading to Friday’s order upholding his conviction and sentencing him to three months’ imprisonment.The actor has also been in the news recently in connection with a separate cheque bounce case involving an alleged loan dispute. A Delhi court had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against him after he allegedly failed to repay a loan, with the outstanding amount reportedly rising to around Rs 9 crore. He was later granted interim bail.
