Mumbai: Kangana Ranaut, her team booked for copyright violation

Ranaut’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee said, “I shall obtain copy of the entire proceedings from the court and then I shall give a detailed statement. At this juncture I can’t comment without perusing the plaint in detail.”

Khar police on Friday registered a first information report (FIR) against actor Kangana Ranaut, and her team members Rangoli Chandel, Akshat Ranaut and Kamal Kumar Jain for alleged criminal breach of trust, cheating and copyright violation.

Actor Kangana Ranaut. (HT FILE)

Ranaut’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee said, “I shall obtain copy of the entire proceedings from the court and then I shall give a detailed statement. At this juncture I can’t comment without perusing the plaint in detail.”

Senior inspector Gajanan Kabdule of Khar police station said the four are booked under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Copyright Act on the basis of a complaint by Ashish Kaul, the writer of a book named Didda - The Warrior Queen of Kashmir. Kaul claimed that he had sent an e-mail containing the story of his book to Ranaut. He said that some parts of the stories were allegedly used by Ranaut in a tweet while announcing her second movie without his permission.

The FIR is registered pursuant to an order issued by a metropolitan magistrate court at Bandra, directing the police to register a case of copyright violation against Ranaut and her team members, over the recently announced movie on the life Didda, a queen of Kashmir.

Ranaut had recently announced that she would be staring in a movie based on the life and times of Didda. Kaul claimed that the story was his copyrighted work, based on his book. Kaul has claimed that he is the sole copyright owner of the unique story and the biopic of Queen Didda.

He had moved a complaint before the magistrate court on February 6 seeking direction to the police to register a case against the actor, Chandel, Jain and Akshat Ranaut.

After hearing his submission, the court passed an order on Tuesday, directing the police to register a case against Ranaut and her team.