Apex court to hear cheque bouncing case against Sridevi

New Delhi, May 4 (IANS) The Supreme Court will Monday hear a lawsuit seeking trial of Bollywood actress Sridevi for the alleged bouncing of her cheques worth Rs.96.6 million made out to a Mumbai-based financier.

Filed by financier Madhu Gupta, who runs Mumbai-based Photo Films Industries, the lawsuit is to come up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice M.K. Sharma.

Gupta has moved the apex court challenging a Bombay High Court order, which March 26, 2008, stalled Sridevi's trial in a case of cheque bouncing.

In her petition to the apex court, Gupta said she was supplying raw photo films and funding the film production business of Sridevi, her husband Boney Kapoor and father-in-law Surendra Kapoor.

Gupta alleged that Sridevi made out to her three cheques worth Rs.96.6 million in March 2007 to clear the debts incurred in her family's film production business.

But the three cheques were dishonoured by the bank for the want of sufficient funds in Sridevi's account, Gupta said.

Gupta then moved the Mumbai trial courts at Kurla and Girgaum for recovering her dues from the actress in April 2007.

The Mumbai courts issued summons to Sridevi, but the actress evaded appearing in the court by seeking repeated adjournments of the case on various grounds, alleged the financier.

On the other hand, Sridevi also got a criminal case registered against Gupta at the Juhu police station in Mumbai, maintaining that she never issued any cheque to Gupta and the cheques with her purported signature that Gupta has presented to the court appear to be forged, said the financier.

Gupta said Mumbai Police, probing Sridevi's allegation of forgery, demanded from her copies of the bounced cheques.

But Guta said, relying on an apex court ruling, she refused to hand over the cheques to the police as it would have weakened her own case.

At this, Sridevi moved the Bombay High Court seeking the criminal cases against her launched by the Mumbai magisterial courts be quashed, said Gupta. The high court, in turn, halted the trial court proceedings against the film star, she added.

The financier sought annulment of the high court's ruling and contended that the existing legal provisions and various apex court rulings require the superior courts to use sparingly their powers to annul criminal cases against a person.

Copyright  IANS

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