Sunny’s lawyer says cheating charges against star are ‘baseless’

Advocate Rizwan Merchant, representing actor Sunny Deol, has refuted charges of ‘cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust’ brought against the Bollywood star by first-time producer Sourav Gupta, who alleged that a contract had been signed between him and Sunny in 2016 and a significant amount of money had changed hands, but the agreement had not been honoured. While Gupta claimed that he had filed an FIR against Sunny at the Juhu police station, Merchant told DC in an exclusive interview, “An offence has been registered against Sunny Deol. An ordinary complaint has been received by the Juhu Police station-Mumbai. Police will conduct an inquiry under CrPC. Sunny Deol is a non-applicant and not an accused because no FIR has been registered against him.” (Gupta had said that he had signed a contract with Sunny Deol as the lead player in a movie, and he had paid the star some money, but the actor had wanted repeated changes to the script, and directors, delaying the project, which had ultimately failed to materialise.) The advocate claimed that the contract had been drafted in 2016 between Sunny Deol and Sourav Gupta, mentioning all monetary compensation and legal consequences likely to ensue if either party failed to honour their commitment. From 2016 to 2024 the contract has not been performed. He also claimed that under the contract, Sunny Deol was to be paid certain monies as compensation. When the compensation was not given, a demand notice was sent to Sourav Gupta mentioning that if the amount was not paid, the contract would be terminated and sums already paid would be forfeited as mentioned in the contract. When there was no response to this, a second demand notice was sent, but that too didn’t get a response, Merchant said. The lawyer also said the notices were not challenged by Gupta in a Civil Court. Gupta had also alleged that forged pages mentioning the termination and forfeiture clauses had been inserted into the original contract. Addressing this charge, Merchant said, “The allegation of changing a page in the agreement and introducing the clause of termination and forfeiture amounting to forgery is baseless. The complainant should have brought up the said issue responding to mails he had received from Sunny Deol’s office. Such allegations of forgery are raised for the first time with an intention of arm-twisting for the extortion of Rs 25 crore from him, which is the part of the false complaint against my client.” On the course of action the Bollywood actor intended to follow, the advocate said, “Sunny will cooperate with the police and we will be producing all the documents. This is a simple case of extortion.” Meanwhile, Producer Vishal Rana, a close associate of Sunny Deol, who was also reportedly named in Sourav Gupta’s complaint, said, “I was present as the witness when the draft was done (2016) … Sourav Gupta wanted the draft to be signed by his wife and took the contract with him. He never returned it to us.” “I was present as the witness when the draft was done (2016) … Sourav Gupta wanted the draft to be signed by his wife and took the contract with him. He never returned it to us.” — PRODUCER VISHAL RANA The advocate claimed that the contract had been drafted in 2016 between Sunny Deol and Sourav Gupta, mentioning all monetary compensation and legal consequences likely to ensue if either party failed to honour their commitment.