Late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s friend Sandeep Kumar Ssingh on Wednesday sent a legal notice to Republic TV and its editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.
LiveLaw reports that Singh has sought Rs 200 crore in damages and asked for n apology for Goswami’s ‘vexatious and frivolous’ allegations.
Ssingh has also asked for the removal of all the ‘malicious footage and articles’ against him telecast/published by the channel.
Ssingh is the producer of the Narendra Modi biopic released last year, starring Viveik Oberoi.
In his legal notice, Ssingh alleged that an official from the news channel had told him that news would be aired against him unless he agreed to “financially benefit the channel”, Bar&Bench reported.
He says the channel went on to carry slanderous reports against him.
Ssingh also alleged that from August 22 to August 24, correspondents from the channel had tried to enter his residence and harassed “security guards” and “domestic helpers”, according to Bar&Bench’s report.
Republic TV was last week named by the Mumbai Police in the TRP scam involving three major news channels.
The channel, along with Times Now, is also facing a lawsuit filed by major Bollywood producers, including the three Khans, Karan Johar and Akshay Kumar, who have alleged that the channel and its editors have defamed the industry.
The lawsuit, by four industry associations and 34 producers, seeks the court’s direction to Republic TV, its editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and reporter Pradeep Bhandari, Times Now, its editor-in-chief Rahul Shivshankar and group editor Navika Kumar and unknown defendants as well as social media platforms to refrain from making or publishing allegedly irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks against Bollywood.
It also seeks to restrain them from interfering with the right to privacy of persons associated with the Hindi film industry.
The industry has been under a cloud since actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in June and the pushback is the first time that the biggest names of the Hindi film industry have banded together in such a way, said industry insiders.