Bhopal: Despite an apology and deletion of contentious scenes, another FIR was lodged in Guna district against the makers and actors of the Tandav web series. Saif Ali Khan was among 9 named in the fresh FIR, while two names in the FIR resemble the names of Mirzapur web series makers who are not linked to the Tandav series.
This is the third FIR which has been lodged against the cast-crew of the controversial web series within three days in the state for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindu community.
Earlier, two FIRs were lodged at Jabalpur and Gwalior respectively on January 19 and 20 on the complaints of Right-wing Hindu outfit leaders.
Although the makers of Tandav had issued an unconditional apology and also deleted contentious scenes from the 9-episode series, the FIR lodging spree by Right-wing Hindu outfits against the cast-crew of the Saif Ali Khan-starrer web series continues unabated in this BJP-ruled state.
The fresh FIR has been registered by Keshav Sharma, leader of the RSS-affiliated Hindu Jagran Manch at the Guna Cantt police station of Guna district. The FIR was registered against nine persons under sections 153-A, 295, 505(1)(b), 505(2) and 469 of the IPC, besides sections 66, 66F and 67 of the Information and Technology Act.
Those named in the FIR include web series director Ali Abbas Zafar, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra, story writer Gaurav Solanki, actors Mohmmad Zeeshan Ayub and Saif Ali Khan, executive producer Bhaumik Gondaliya and Amazon Prime Video’s India content head Aparna Purohit.
Importantly, two more names figure among the list of the nine accused/suspects in the FIR, including Farhana Akhtar and Ritesh Savdhani, which resemble the names of Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani — both makers of another controversial Amazon Prime Video web series, ‘Mirzapur’.
Names may be dropped
The list of accused in the FIR is based on the complaint by the complainant. If, during the course of investigations, it’s found that some of those included as accused have no links with the web series concerned, their names will be dropped from the FIR, stated Avnit Sharma, incharge of Guna Cantt police station.
