CHENNAI: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has provisionally attached three properties worth Rs 10.11 crore of film director S Shankar in an investigation launched under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The PMLA investigation has been initiated based on a case under the Copyright Act, 1957 alleging Shankar had copied the story of the 2010 Rajinikanth starrer Enthiran from ‘Jiguba’, authored by Aarur Tamilnadan.
Sources said this may be the first or second case in the country where a money-laundering investigation has been launched based on the Copyright Act, which was recently included as a scheduled offence.
ED said the investigation was initiated based on a complaint filed by Aarur Tamilnadan against S Shankar before the 13th Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Egm-ore, Chennai, on May 19 2011 (CC No. 2067/2011). ED’s investigation has revealed Shankar received Rs 11.5 crore for his contributions to Enthiran, including for story development, screenplay, dialogues, and direction.
In addition, an independent report by the Film and Television Institute of India identified striking similarities between the story Jiguba and the movie. This report, which examined narrative structure, character development, and thematic elements, lends significant support to the plagiarism allegations against Shankar, ED said.
Based on the substantial evidence and records in hand, ED has determined that Shankar has violated Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957 — a violation now classified as a scheduled offence under the PMLA, 2002. Further investigation is under progress.