'Show Bonafide': Bombay High Court Orders Kannada Actor Dhruva Sarja To Deposit ₹3 Crores In His Plea To Quash Cheating FIR

The Bombay High Court on Monday ordered Kannada actor Dhruva Sarja alias Dhruva Kumar to show his bonafides and deposit Rs. 3 crore, an amount which he received from filmmaker Raghavendra Hegde, who has accused the actor of duping him of over Rs 9 crore.

Sarja faces a First Information Report (FIR) at the behest of Hegde, who has alleged that the Kannada actor had approached him requesting for a collaboration to which the filmmaker agreed and initially paid Rs 3 crore to the actor. Further Hegde claimed to have taken loans from various entities at higher interests from 2020 till lodging of the FIR, taking the total amount to Rs 43 crores.

After such a huge expenditure, Hegde alleged that Sarja withdrew from the film and thus has cheated him. He therefore, lodged an FIR with the Amboli Police Station in Mumbai under various charges of fraud, cheating etc.

Aggrieved by the FIR, Sarja petitioned a division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Rajesh Patil seeking to quash the said criminal case against him.

On Monday, when the matter was called out, Senior Advocate MS Shyamsundar Seni representing Sarja told the judges that his client does not dispute the fact that he received Rs 3 crore from Hegde after they both signed an agreement for a film in 2019.

Seni said, "We are not denying anything. We admit that the amount of Rs 3 crore was received for the film and my client being an artist, he agreed to collaborate. However, nothing much happened till 2023, when the complainant first sent a story. But he later withdrew the said story."

Further, Seni pointed out that Hegde next sent a story in 2024 and somewhere in July 2025, he messaged Sarja to speak to one of his investors assuring the said entity that he would be collaborating with the complainant.

Subsequently, on July 15, 2025, Hegde lodged a complaint with the Amboli Police, which was later converted into an FIR.

Hedge has alleged that Sarja stopped responding to calls or messages and therefore he was compelled to lodge a case against the actor.

Countering this, Seni in his submissions argued that his client never refused to work with Hedge but rather suddenly, an FIR came to be lodged.

Having heard the brief arguments, Justice Gadkari asked Seni to take instructions from Sarja if he would deposit the Rs 3 crore signing amount, in the High Court Registry.

"Show us your bonafides by depositing the said amount with this Court's Registry. Take instructions," Justice Gadkari orally said.

Seni, while agreeing with the judges' opinion, urged for an interim relief of "no coercive action".

However, the judges while refusing the same said, "You first show us your bonafides by depositing the amount. We will then consider your prayers."

The bench therefore, adjourned the hearing till next week.

Appearance:

For Petitioners: MS Shyamsundar, Senior Adv with Ashima Mandla, Mandakini Singh, Mohd. Faiz, Aryan Kotwal Advocates 

For Complainant: Sr Adv Sanjeev Kadam