HC sends Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav to jail for contempt

Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav and his wife Radha today earned the wrath of Delhi High Court which sentenced him to 10 days in jail for contempt in a recovery suit of Rs 5 crore pending against them.

Yadav's wife got away with lighter punishment as the court noted that she had an infant to take care of and ordered her to be in custody for one day till its rising.

The actor and his wife, facing contempt proceedings in the suit filed by a Delhi-based M G Agarwal against them for recovery of Rs five crore, were held guilty of misleading the court and avoiding appearance.

Justice S Muralidhar termed the sequence of incident in the case as "shocking state of affairs".

It said the couple, who had been held guilty of contempt eealier also, were avoiding appearance before it to present their views on quantum of sentence.

"This case presents a shocking state of affairs. Rajpal and his wife have already been punished for contempt of court and the case has been kept pending only on the question of sentence.

"Instead of mitigating the contempt committed, defendants (Yadavs) have systematically aggravated the contempt by making misleading statements in court and acting in defiance of the court's order. Added to this unfortunate state of affairs is the untruths spoken by their counsel in the court," it said.

"The court is satisfied that no further leniency can be shown to either of the contemnors in these proceedings. The court accordingly sentences defendant 2 (Yadav) to 10 days simple imprisonment beginning forthwith....

"As far as defendant 3 (Radha) is concerned she and defendant 2 have an infant. The court is, therefore, prepared to take a more lenient view. Defendant 3 is sentenced till the rising of the court today," it said.

The court also issued contempt notices to the lawyer of Yadav's wife for allegedly lying about her whereabouts and the Oath Commissioner who had attested the affidavit.