A court in Mumbai has let Ram Gopal Varma free of the charges he was facing in relation to a case associated with a bounced cheque dating all the way back to 2018, PTI reports. The verdict comes hot on the heels of a settlement between the filmmaker and the company that raised the cheque bounce complaint against his firm through a recent Lok Adalat. It also comes a few months after an Andheri-based judicial magistrate found the filmmaker guilty as per the Negotiable Instruments Act. The magistrate had given him a three-month-long imprisonment sentence and asked him to offer the complainant a compensation of Rs 3,72,219 within this timeframe. Unhappy with the magistrate's verdict, the director had made a written criminal appeal at a Dindoshi-based sessions court. In the earlier hearing, however, the complainant and Ram informed the court about their decision to arrive at an amicable settlement on the issue through the Adalat. Thereafter, the Dindoshi court has not only acquitted Varma but also disposed of the filmmaker's appeal.

The company, a dealer of hard disks, supplied the product to the filmmaker from February to March in 2018, raising tax invoices that totalled Rs 2,38,220. However, the cheques that Varma's company issued towards the invoices got bounced twice, making the company seek legal action.

On the film front, Varma has a project with Manoj Bajpayee next.