Actress Koena Mitra gets six months jail in cheque bounce case

Actress Koena Mitra has been sentenced by the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court for six months in the check bounce case.

In an order passed on July 6, the court had ordered the Koyna to pay a compensation of ₹4.64 lakh to model Poonam Sethi, the complainant in the case.

The case was registered against Koena in accordance with a complaint lodged by model Poonam Sethi in 2013. Mitra borrowed ₹22 lakh from Sethi over a period of time, but failed to return the entire amount. Poonam then sent a notice to Koena to return the money but when she did not do so, she filed a case in October 2013.

During the hearing of the case, Mitra had refused all allegations against her. She had said that Sethi was a “small type” model who could not have had the wherewithal to lend her ₹22 lakh. Her lawyer also alleged that Sethi ran illegal money lending business but the magistrate dismissed her arguments.

“It is a court matter, so obviously we will go to the higher court to challenge the order. The higher court will give us an order (and) only then can we talk about it. Right now, I don’t have anything to say except that it’s a fraud case and I am being framed,” Koena told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

Koena said that her lawyer wasn’t present in the court during the final argument, so the order was passed without her side of the argument being presented. She added that her lawyers are currently working on a challenge plea.

Mitra has acted in films like “Musafir”, “Insan”, “Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena”, “Anamika”, and “Apna Sapna Money Money”.