Padmaja Rao has to pay Rs 40.2 lakh.
The case was filed by Veerendra Shetty, who is the owner of Veeru Talkies and a resident of Mangaluru. According to him, Padmaja Rao had taken a loan.
Prominent Kannada cinema actress Padmaja Rao has been sentenced to three months in prison and lakhs worth of fine by a Mangaluru court in connection to a loan she allegedly took.
As per reports, the case was filed by Veerendra Shetty, who is the owner of Veeru Talkies and a resident of Maryhill, in Mangaluru. According to him, the veteran actress had taken a loan of Rs 40 lakh and given him an ICICI Bank cheque as security, which was reportedly dated June 17, 2020. So, when Veerendra went to cash the cheque, it ended up being bounced due to insufficient balance in the actress’s bank account. Veerendra Shetty then issued a notice to Padmaja Rao on June 30, 2020, warning the actress to complete the payment in 15 days, however, she failed to go forth with it.
Going by more reports, Padmaja denied the allegations during the court proceedings, stating that she never took any money from Shetty, nor did she provide him any security cheque. Moreover, she accused Veerendra Shetty of stealing a cheque from her and forging her signature to make a false case against her. However, she failed to provide a piece of substantial evidence which could support her claims.
However, Padmaja Rao’s lawyer argued that Veerendra Shetty’s charges were a counter-complaint, which followed a police complaint the actress had filed on March 23, 2020, at the JP Nagar Police Station, in Bengaluru. In the complaint, the actress alleged that Shetty had defrauded her of Rs 52.70 lakh.
Judge Fawaz P A from the Eighth Judicial Magistrate First Class Court, sentenced Padmaja to three months in prison after reviewing the case. Furthermore, the actress is ordered to pay a fine of Rs 40.2 lakh. The amount includes Rs 40.17 lakh, which is to be paid to the complainant, along with an additional Rs 3,000 as a penalty to the government.