The Bihar police said on October 9 that they found the sedition case lodged against 49 celebrities , who had written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi , to be “false” and would take action against the complainant.
The complaint was lodged in Muzaffarpur against renowned personalities, including filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Mani Ratnam and Anurag Kashyap besides historian Ramachandra Guha, who were signatories to an open letter seeking Mr. Modi’s intervention on the rising incidence of mob lynching.
Closure report
Senior Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur, Manoj Kumar Sinha said a direction to close the case had been issued to the Sadar police station, where the FIR was lodged last week on the complaint of local advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha.
“Closure has been ordered for the sedition case. A closure report will be submitted before the court in due course,” Mr. Sinha said.
“The investigating officer in the case will file the final report at the local court within a day or two, and on the basis of his report action will be taken against the petitioner under relevant sections of the IPC,” said the SSP. The case had caused outrage in the country and abroad.
The petitioner is known for filing PIL pleas against celebrities and dignitaries. He was also an advocate for Brajesh Thakur, prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case.
Deputy Chief Minister Sushi Kumar Modi has tweeted about Mr. Ojha. “He is serial litigant and I also had been victim of his litigation... until now he has filed 715 PILs only on the basis of paper cuttings against dignitaries like former PM Manmohan Singh, Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan and others,” Mr. Sushil Kumar Modi tweeted. “It would be wrong to drag the BJP or the RSS or target Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this matter”, he added.
( With PTI inputs)
