New Delhi: Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to filmmaker Vikram Bhatt and his wife Shwetambari Bhatt, who were arrested in a case related to alleged cheating of Rs 30 crore on the promise of making a biopic on a doctor’s late wife.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi granted regular bail to Bhatt and his wife, who was granted interim bail on Feb 13, but refused to quash the FIRs filed based on the complaint of cheating.In its order, the bench said, “It seems to us that the dispute essentially pertains to a commercial transaction, though the ingredients of committing offence of cheating etc have been expressly mentioned in the FIR. Be that as it may, it may be appropriate for the parties to resolve the disputes through mediation.”“The regular bail has been granted with the expectation that the appellants will try and make efforts for the amicable resolution of the dispute,” it said. SC asked the parties to go for mediation under the aegis of the SC Mediation Centre.Appearing for Dr Ajay Murdia, senior advocate Vikas Singh said the filmmaker’s “company is in difficulty and he is asking for money based on his past reputation”. “People are giving money, and he is using the money in his own company, which is going into liquidation,” Singh said.Countering the allegation, senior advocate Siddharth Dave on behalf of the Bhatts told the court that the couple has scrupulously adhered to the agreement and have made two out of four movies, and are in the process of completing the third one. If Bhatt remains in jail, he would not be able to complete the films, he said.
