Tollywood producer Bandla Ganesh was sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment with a fine of nearly Rs 16 lakh by the Erramanzil Special Court in Hyderabad on Friday.
He was sentenced in a cheque bounce case filed by scriptwriter Vakkantham Vamsi. However, Ganesh was given bail after he submitted personal bonds before the court.
Vakkantham Vamsi, who wrote the script of Temper starring Junior NTR and Kajal Agarwal approached the court after Ganesh, producer of the film, failed to pay his complete remuneration of Rs 26 lakh.
According to Deccan Chronicle, Ganesh had given post-dated cheques to Vamsi. However, all the cheques were dishonoured, forcing Vamsi to approach the court in 2015. A case was registered under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
During the court proceedings, Ganesh paid Rs 17 lakh. Ganesh, however, failed to honour the deadline given by the court, as Rs 9 lakh still had to be paid on the deadline.
He was sentenced six-month imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 15,86,550. He would be sentenced to an additional imprisonment of three months if he failed to pay the fine.
In January this year, Income Tax officials had raided offices of Ganesh to check for financial irregularities.
It is speculated that Ganesh, who took a hiatus after Temper, will be soon producing a movie starring actor Ravi Teja.
Ganesh has produced several films like Gabbar Singh, Baadshah, Iddarammayilatho and Govindudu Andarivadele with stars like Pawan Kalyan, Junior NTR, Allu Arjun and Ram Charan Teja, under his home production Parameswara Arts.
Temper was directed by Puri Jagannadh. The film was released in 2015 and turned out to be a hit film, and had earned wide appreciation for Jr NTR for his acting in the film. Before becoming a producer, Ganesh once acted as a comedian in films.