RAJKOT: Famous Bollywood director and producer Rajkumar Santoshi well known for films including his directorial debut action drama Ghayal in 1990 starring Sunny Deol and Meenakshi Seshadri followed by the crime drama thriller Damini in 1993 was on Saturday convicted in 11 cases and sentenced to two years of imprisonment and ordered to pay Rs 2.2 crore in all to a businessman after a court in Jamnagar found him guilty under the Negotiable Instruments Act for not honouring 11 cheques he had issued to the businessman after borrowing Rs 1.1 crore from him.

A day later a statement shared by Santoshi's lawyer states that the filmmaker has been granted bail 'to appeal against the judgement at a higher forum'.

Jamnagar resident and businessman Ashok Lal, who is the owner of Shreeji Shipping, had given one crore to Rajkumar Santoshi to make a film in 2015, Santoshi had given 11 cheques, each worth Rs 10 lakh to Lal, for repayment of the loan however the cheque later bounced. 

The prosecution claim was that, when the lender Ashok Lal tried to contact Santoshi, he became unavailable, after which Ashok Lal filed a case in court. Lal's lawyers also drew the court’s attention to the fact that Santoshi was convicted by a court in Rajkot some time ago in a similar complaint filed by a person named Anil Jethani. The court had exempted Santoshi from appearing in the court while pronouncing the judgement.

Santoshi's last film was Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh released in 2023 which was a fictional situation in which Mahatma Gandhi survives his assassination and thereafter decides to not only pardon Nathuram Godse but also socialize with him.

Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, 'Lahore: 1947' also stars Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta and is produced by Aamir Khan, recently he has teamed with Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta for his next, 'Lahore, 1947' the shoot for which started a week ago.