In a new development the Supreme Court has granted regular bail to filmmaker Vikram Bhatt and his wife Shwetambari Bhatt, booked by the Rajasthan police in an alleged fraud case involving large-scale misappropriation of funds. Earlier this week, the Court granted interim bail to Shwetambari Bhatt over a dispute over a biopic of the late wife of Ajay Murdia, owner of Indira IVF.
Reportedly, Vikram Bhatt and his wife Shwetambari Bhatt were arrested by the Rajasthan Police last December and were lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail. Last week, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Shwetambari Bhatt.
Today, Friday 20 February the bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi set aside the Rajasthan High Court’s order which denied bail to the Bhatts. Granting them regular bail, the bench said that it expected the parties to make earnest efforts to settle the dispute through mediation.
The bench observed that the case essentially was a dispute arising out of a commercial transaction. The bench directed the parties to appear before the Supreme Court Mediation Centre with a view to explore the possibility of settling their payment dispute.
The benchobserved in the order that It seems to them that dispute essentially pertains to a commercial transaction, though the ingredients of committing offence of cheating etc have been expressly mentioned in the FIR. Be that as it may, it may be appropriate for the parties to resolve the disputes through mediation. The regular bail has been granted with the expectation that the appellants will try and make efforts for the amicable resolution of the dispute,” the bench observed in the order.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave appeared for the Bhatts. Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for Ajay Murdia. Singh did not object to the grant of bail to explore the possibility of mediation. He added that there is another FIR registered against Vikram Bhatt in Mumbai for another cheating offence.
“His company is in difficulty and he is asking money based on his past reputation, people are giving money, and he is using the money into his own company which is going into liquidation. According to Dave he is taking money to finish his movies adding that as per the contract,
4 movies were agreed and two are already completed, and the third is complete 70%, and if he is in custody, he won’t be able to complete.
The case stems from a complaint filed by Murdia that Bhatt and his wife induced him to invest over Rs 30 crore in a biopic of his late wife, promising high returns which never got materialised.
News Edit KV Raman
