Court orders probe into pirated DVD screening of ‘Raajneeti’

JAIPUR - A court here Thursday asked police to lodge a first information report (FIR) and investigate into allegations that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators watched a pirated DVD of the recently released Bollywood film “Raajneeti”.

“Acting chief judicial magistrate (CJM) on a criminal complaint filed Wednesday by my client Yogendra Singh ordered the Muhana police station in Jaipur to file an FIR against BJP’s chief whip in the assembly Rajendra Singh Rathore, the owner of Hotel Jaipur Greens and the general manager of the hotel,” A.K. Jain, the lawyer for the complainant told IANS.

He said that Singh, a Jaipur citizen, had lodged a complaint against these three under various sections of the Copyright Act, Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code in the CJM court.

“Besides naming these three in our complaint, we had also requested for thorough investigation into the matter and to find out who all were part of this conspiracy,” Jain said.

Sources in the hotel said 66 of the 79 BJP legislators had watched the movie Tuesday.

Fearing cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls June 17, the state unit of the BJP had put all its 79 legislators in Hotel Jaipur Greens on the outskirts of the city to prevent horse-trading and defections.

“There was fear that the legislators may not vote for Ram Jethmalani, whom they consider an outsider, so the party decided to huddle them up together and place them in a hotel. This would mean that the chances of horse-trading or defection becomes negligible,” a BJP leader told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Filmmaker Jha is furious that the legislators watched a pirated version of his latest film.

“We are contemplating legal action against illegal screening of the film,” Jha told IANS over phone. “This is really bad. How can lawmakers be lawbreakers?”

“We in the film industry are really disturbed that a film which has just been released is being screened in such an illegal manner… We are seeking legal advice and would certainly take appropriate action against the hotel and the people who have seen the film in this manner.”