Veteran actress and former MP Jaya Prada has been awarded six-month prison sentence by a Chennai court in a case that is connected to the non-payment of the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) fund share to the employees working in a cinema threatre in Chennai that is owned by her. 

Jaya Prada was also directed to pay Rs 5,000 as a fine and along with her, two others have also been sentenced to a six-month incarceration. The case was related to the management of Jaya Prada threatre complex that she owns in Triplicane, Chennai. The veteran actress has been accused of not paying the ESI fund share to the employees despite deducting money from their salary. 

Initially, a worker of the theatre filed a complaint against the actress in the Employees' State Insurance Corporation for not paying his ESI fund amount. Based on the complaint, the Insurance Corporation has moved a case against the actress in the Egmore Magistrate Court in Chennai. 

Defending the case, Jaya Prada and two others moved to the Madras High Court. The actress has promised to pay the entire amount to the staff and sought to dismiss the case. However, the high court had dismissed the case and now, after hearing, the Egmore Magistrate Court has sentenced Jaya Prada and others to a six-month prison sentence. The accused have also been imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each. 

According to reports, Jaya Prada caught into trouble a few years ago when her threatre complex had failed to meet the obligation of an income tax amount worth around Rs 20 lakh. As per the order of the city's civil court, the Chennai Corporation officials had seized the chairs and projectors from the theatre. 

61-year-old Jaya Prada has been regarded as one of the influential actresses in the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Hindi cinema industries in late 1970s, 80s, and early 90s. She predominantly appeared in Hindi movies and she is the recipient of three Filmfare Awards South. While she was at peak, she left the cinema industry and plunged into politics. In 1994, she joined Telugu Desam Party and then she joined Samajwadi Party. She served as Samajwadi Party's Lok Sabha MP from Rampur constituency in Uttar Pradesh from 2004 to 2014. After leaving from Samajwadi Party, she has joined BJP in 2019.