Saroj Khan backs casting couch, says film industry ‘at least’ gives jobs

Mumbai, Jul 19: Mumbai Police have registered an FIR against two Instagram account holders for allegedly threatening actor Rhea Chakraborty, an official said on Sunday.

The location of the two accused is yet to be traced, the official said, adding that the investigation in the case is at primary stage.

Chakraborty on Thursday requested the cyber crime cell to look into the rape and murder threats she has been receiving ever since the death of close friend, actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Rajput, 34, was found dead in his apartment in suburban Bandra here on June 14, leaving people in the film industry and audiences shocked.

Chakraborty, in particular, was subjected to online hate with users blaming her for Rajput's suicide.

"We registered the First Information Report (FIR) on Saturday under Indian Penal Code Sections 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication), 509 (intending to insult modesty of any woman) and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act," Santacruz police station's senior inspector Shriram Koregaonkar said.

"No arrest has been made so far. We are conducting an investigation in the case," he added.

On Thursday, sharing a screenshot of a hate message she received on Instagram, Chakraborty said while she had ignored many abusive texts sent to her in the past month, the harassment was now unbearable.

The 28-year-old actor eventually disabled the comments section of her Instagram page.

Chakraborty, known for films such as "Mere Dad Ki Maruti" and "Jalebi", had tagged the cyber cell and requested the authorities to look into the threats.

On June 18, she was called to the Bandra police station to record her statement in connection with Rajput's death.

Mumbai, Jan 4: After the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur constituted a panel to decide whether legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's poem 'Hum Dekhenge' is offensive to Hindu sentiments, filmmaker Shoojit Sircar had a cryptic take on the burning controversy.

"Best time for the rich & small businesses to make money as most of the population are engaged with a revolutionary poet named Faiz," Sircar said in a tweet.

The poem, penned down by the iconic poet in 1979, came into limelight again recently during the protests against CAA and NRC in IIT Kanpur.

Earlier on Thursday, senior lyricist Javed Akhtar rejected the claims about the poem being 'anti-Hindu'.

IIT Kanpur on Thursday had set up a committee to look into the issue.

The move came after a complaint that the students who took out a peaceful march in the campus on December 17 against the Citizenship Amendment Act and in solidarity with Jamia Millia Islamia students, sung it as a mark of protest, which hurt the sentiments of other communities.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians who faced religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Chennai, Mar 12: Superstar Rajinikanth on Thursday clarified that he never aspired to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and said his plans for politics include different heads for his prospective party and a possible government headed by it.

In his first official press conference since December 31, 2017, when he announced to take the political plunge, the veteran star also said he planned to appoint as CM, an educated youth who was compassionate and had self-respect.

With a two-leadership system for party and the government, the former would act as an "opposition" to highlight issues and would not even hesitate to "remove", apparently the head of the government, if it fails to perform, he said.

His prospective party would focus on including a substantial amount of youngsters in the age group of below 45 years while the rest would comprise retired judges and IAS and IPS officials among others.

"I myself would reach out to them and invite them," to join him, the 69-year-old actor said.

Contrary to expectations, he however, did not make a concrete statement on floating his party but called for an "uprising" by youth, after which he would make his formal political entry.