The High Court of Kerala stayed criminal proceedings on Wednesday against actor Sunny Leone alias Karanjit Kaur Vohra, her husband Daniel Weber and one other person till further orders, in a cheating case.
The order was passed by the Single-Judge Bench of Justice Ziyad Rahman AA on a petition filed by the actor, seeking quashing of the case against them.
A complaint had been filed against Leone, her husband Daniel and one of her employees by a Kerala-based event manager, alleging that despite paying the actor lakhs of rupees to appear and perform in events, she did not show up.
A case was registered against the trio under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty inducing delivery of property) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The accused filed a petition in the High Court, claiming that they were innocent and that even if the allegations were taken at face value, the offences alleged would not be attracted.
The plea further claimed that the complainant did not face any losses due to the petitioners, but the lives of the accused were being adversely affected by the case.
The complainant had also moved a civil suit with the same allegations, which was dismissed by a Magistrate Court in July 2022 for want of evidence, added the petition.
Senior Advocate P. Vijayabhanu, along with Advocates R. Sanjith, C.S. Sindhu Krishnah, Suraj Krishnan and Sidhi K Kutty represented the accused.
(Case title: Karanjit Kaur Vohra & Ors vs State of Kerala & Anr)