CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to one of the accused in the leak of actor-politician Vijay’s movie Jana Nayagan, which is awaiting the Central Board of Film Certification clearance for the formal release.
Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan on Thursday dismissed the application filed by D Uma Shankar of Thiruverkadu, who is employed as a manager at a popular textile showroom. He was accused by the cybercrime wing of the Greater Chennai Police of sharing the movie on the internet.
Additional public prosecutor KMD Muhilan, representing the police, vehemently opposed the pre-arrest bail application. He said the applicant, Uma Shankar, is a close friend of the brother of the first accused, Prashanth, a freelance film editor, who had allegedly copied the movie from a studio and passed it on to the others involved in the leak.
“Not only has the bail petitioner compressed and uploaded the movie on the internet, but also shared it with several persons through mobile phone. The interrogation of Uma Shankar is essential to find out the other persons involved in the offence,” he submitted.
The APP called upon the court to deny anticipatory bail as it would serve as a warning and deterrent to those who intend to leak a movie before it is formally released. Advocate RC Paul Kanagaraj, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that Uma Shankar is not a film editor.
He pressed for the court to grant bail. Representing KVN Productions, the producers of the movie, advocate Vijayan Subramanian informed that Prashanth had copied the movie and shared it with his brother, who, in turn, shared it with Uma Shankar.
He contended that the court shall not grant bail to him since he has leaked the movie, which was produced at a cost of about `500 crore.
TVK candidate gets security; plea closed
Chennai: The Madras High Court on Thursday closed a petition filed by TVK’s Harbour candidate Sinora PS Ashok seeking police protection for himself and his family, following alleged threat from his rival candidate and HR&CE Minister PK Sekarbabu. Following the submissions made by the counsel for the police that adequate security had been provided for Ashok, Justice M Nirmal Kumar closed the petition. ENS
