Rajpal Yadav's 'arrest' outside court: HC accepts apology from bizman

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today accepted the apology tendered by a Delhi businessman and his personal assistant for getting the Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav arrested from outside the court premises and directed them to settle their loan recovery dispute through mediation.

A bench of justices Gita Mittal and P S Teji asked the counsels for Yadav and businessman M G Agarwal to go to the mediation centre of the Delhi High Court and try to settle their dispute before mediator Sudhanshu Batra.

The bench also accepted two affidavits for apology filed by Agarwal and his personal assistant Rajeev Sharma for getting the actor arrested on the pretext of discharging an arrest warrant which was already cancelled.

"Two affidavits of apology have been filed and accepted. Report of ACP is awaited. Without any prejudice to any parties, the matter is sent for mediation. Put up for further hearing on July 24," the bench said.

On March 24, the court had pulled up Agarwal and Sharma for their "appalling conduct" of getting the actor arrested on March 19 from outside the court premises and warned them of paying damages to Yadav.

It had said the conduct of Agarwal, who had loaned Rs five crore to Yadav, and Sharma was "tantamount to contempt of court" as the arrest of the actor from outside the High Court premises was "wrongful confinement".

Yadav in his tearful statement made before the court had said that on March 19 as he left the High Court, the complainant's PA along with their lawyers and two police officers arrested him in pursuance of a warrant issued by a trial court here in a cheque bounce case.

He had claimed the warrant, which was issued for not appearing before the court, was later cancelled by the same trial judge on his plea, but his pleas to this effect fell on deaf ears as the other side was bent on getting him arrested.

He was arrested and then released barely half a kilometre from the Karkardooma Court complex in east Delhi where the cheque bounce case is going on, after the cops confirmed the warrant had been cancelled, Yadav had said.