BENGALURU: The Special Court for CBI Cases refused to discharge Prashant Kumar K, the then Regional Officer of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Bengaluru, from a case involving the receipt of a bribe to issue a censor certificate for a movie, in 2023.
“The prosecution has placed sufficient materials against accused No.1, Prashant Kumar, showing his active involvement in the alleged offences. Therefore, considering the statements of witnesses, documents collected during the investigation, material objects, all along with charge sheet materials, it is seen that there is a prima facie material to proceed with trial against him”, said Judge Manjunath Sangreshi, Special Court for CBI Cases, dismissing the application filed by Prashant Kumar.
The court said that it is not proper to come to a conclusion at this stage that there is no prima facie case made out against him without giving an opportunity to the prosecution to prove its case about the guilt of the accused in the alleged crime.
According to the CBI, Prashant Kumar demanded Rs 15,000 from the complainant, A V Nagaraju, through middlemen for issuing a censor certificate for the movie ‘Adavi’ produced by him under the banner ‘Samvidhana Cine Combines’.
Accordingly, the screening of the movie for obtaining a certificate was arranged on November 20, 2023, in a studio at Malleshwaram in the city. After screening, some observations/remarks noticed in the movie and suggested for cuts, for which accused No.2, Pruthviraj, an assistant director of serials who acted as middlemen, was persistently convincing the complainant on behalf of Prashant Kumar, to pay Rs 15,000 bribe and get cleared minor issues observed and get issued certificate for the movie.
As the complainant did not want to pay a bribe, he approached the CBI with a complaint against the accused. Accordingly, they laid the trap and caught the accused persons while accepting a bribe of Rs 12,000. The CBI submitted the charge sheet on June 25, 2024, against four accused. Hence, the applicant moved the court seeking discharge from the charge-sheeted offences.