A complaint has been filed against actor Prakash Raj in a police station in Bagalkot over a social media post where he shared a caricature of a man in a shirt and lungi pouring tea.
Sharing the picture on microblogging site X, he wrote, “First view just arrived from Chandrayaan .. #VikramLander #justasking.”
Some on the Internet alleged that the actor was 'making fun' of India's ambitious third lunar mission - Chandrayaan-3.
Leaders of Hindu organisations have filed a complaint against the actor in Banahatti police station of Bagalkote district, police told ANI.
Prakash Raj clarified on X that his post was a joke. "Hate sees only Hate...I was referring to a joke of #Armstrong times celebrating our kerala Chaiwala-which Chaiwala did the Trolls see? if you dont get a joke then the joke is on you..GROW UP #justasking" he posted.
Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, around 18:04 hours IST.
Launched on July 14, it is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
Live action will be available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 17:27 IST on Aug 23, 2023.
India will be the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat after the United States, Russia, and China, but India will be the only country in the world to land on the lunar south pole.
Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission's progress.
Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14, 2023 via the GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota at 2:35 PM.
(With ANI inputs)