The Supreme Court on Thursday granted regular bail to filmmaker Vikram Bhatt and his wife Shwetambari Bhatt in a multi-crore cheating case linked to a dispute over a proposed biopic on the late wife of Ajay Murdia, the owner of Indira IVF.
Supreme Court grants bail to Vikram Bhatt and wife Shwetambari Bhatt, sends each parties for mediation
The couple was arrested by the Rajasthan Police in December last yr and sent to Jodhpur Central Jail. Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Shwetambari Bhatt. On Thursday, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi put aside the Rajasthan High Court’s order denying bail and granted them regular bail.
The court said the dispute appeared to arise mainly from a industrial transaction and suggested that the parties attempt to resolve the matter through mediation. It directed them to seem before the Supreme Court Mediation Centre to explore a possible settlement of their payment dispute.
“It seems to us that dispute essentially pertains to a industrial transaction, though the ingredients of committing offence of cheating, etc, have been expressly mentioned within the FIR. Be that as it could, it could be appropriate for the parties to resolve the disputes through mediation. The regular bail has been granted with the expectation that the appellants will attempt to make efforts for the amicable resolution of the dispute,” the bench observed in its order.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave appeared for the Bhatts, while Senior Advocate Vikas Singh represented Murdia. Singh didn’t oppose bail for the aim of mediation but identified that one other FIR has been registered against Vikram Bhatt in Mumbai. “His company is in difficulty and he’s asking money based on his past repute, persons are giving money, and he’s using the cash into his own company which goes into liquidation,” Singh said.
Responding to this, Dave said Bhatt is raising funds to finish his movies. He added that under the contract, 4 movies were agreed upon — two are already accomplished and the third is 70% complete — and if Bhatt stays in custody, he is not going to find a way to complete the project.
The case is predicated on Murdia’s criticism that the Bhatts persuaded him to take a position over Rs 30 crores in a biopic on his late wife, promising high returns that didn’t materialise.
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