- Supreme Court granted regular bail to Vikram Bhatt and his wife in a cheating case
- The couple was arrested in December and jailed in Jodhpur Central Jail
- The Court set aside Rajasthan High Court's denial of bail to the Bhatts
In a significant relief to filmmaker Vikram Bhatt, the Supreme Court on Thursday granted regular bail to him and his wife Shwetambari Bhatt in an alleged multi-crore cheating case linked to a proposed biopic on the late wife of Indira IVF founder Ajay Murdia.
The couple had been arrested by Rajasthan Police from Mumbai in December last year and were lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail.
The top court had granted interim bail to Shwetambari Bhatt last week.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi set aside the Rajasthan High Court order that had denied them bail.
Observing that the dispute appeared to stem from a commercial transaction, the court granted regular bail and asked both sides to make sincere efforts to resolve the matter through mediation.
"It seems to us that the 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 bench said in its order.
The court directed the parties to appear before the Supreme Court Mediation Centre to explore the possibility of settling their payment dispute.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for the Bhatts, argued that as per the agreement, four films were to be made, of which two have already been completed and the third is about 70 per cent complete. He submitted that Bhatt would not be able to finish the project if he remained in custody and that funds were being raised to complete the films.
Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Ajay Murdia, did not object to the grant of bail to facilitate mediation.
The case arises from a complaint filed by Mr Murdia alleging that the Bhatts induced him to invest over Rs 30 crore in a biopic of his late wife, promising high returns that allegedly did not materialise.
The counsel for Murdia told the court that the cheating case amounts stands at Rs 44 crore today.
Also Read | Supreme Court Grants Interim Bail To Vikram Bhatt's Wife In Rs 44 Crore Fraud Case