New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today asked Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav to provide the valuation details of his properties in order to facilitate the process of discharging his liability of Rs 5 crore borrowed from a businessman who has filed a recovery suit against him and his wife.
A bench of Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Sunil Gaur also asked the actor to give duplicate papers of his properties so that the businessman too can find out the value of the properties as per the market value. "Give us the valuation of your land in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The respondent (business) will also find out the value of the properties. You will also inform us whether any of the other shareholders in the properties will agree to hand over their share," the judge said.
The bench further said an effort should be made in this regard and place before it the actual valuation by September 23, the next date of hearing. The court gave the direction after the owner of a Delhi-based company, Murli Projects, sought jail for Yadav, saying unless the court takes action against the actor he will not pay the amount.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, representing the company, said the situation is similar to that of Sahara chief Subrata Roy and Rajpal too should be sent to jail for not paying the borrowed amount. "His (Yadav) undertaking proved to be false at every stage. He has only paid Rs 1.58 crore out of the principal amount of Rs 5 crore. "On last date, he gives us the mode of payment through an undertaking but till date he has not fulfilled a single undertaking," Krishnan said, arguing he should be sent to Tihar jail.
The court while refusing to do so said the businessman's purpose will not be solved by sending the actor to jail, as no money can be recovered through that process. "Like Subrata Roy, you want him to be sent to Tihar. You won't be able to recover your money," the judge said.
Yadav's counsel Piyush Kalra also said that "we are making all endeavours to pay back the money". "I don't have the money. The undertaking was given relying on the third party assurance. I am living with my family in a rented accommodation. I am not shying away from my liabilities. I have no money. Today I am only earning and paying you," Kalra said. The court was hearing an appeal filed by Yadav against the single judge bench order which had sent him to 10 days in jail for misleading the court in a recovery suit filed against him and his wife by the businessman.
42-year-old Yadav had spent four days in Tihar jail from December 3, 2013 and on December 6, a division bench of the high court had suspended his sentence on his appeal. The single judge bench, which was hearing the recovery suit, had taken exception to the affidavit filed by Yadav on December 2, 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 also directed that his wife, who had appeared with her child before the court, be kept in the office of the Registrar General till the rising of the court.
Yadav, along with his wife Radha, has been engaged in a legal battle after Delhi-based businessman, M G Agarwal, owner of Murli Projects, filed a case against the couple in the high court for failing to repay a loan of Rs five crore which the actor had taken in 2010 to make his directorial debut with the Hindi film 'Ata Pata Laapata'.
