Latha Rajinikanth has to appear before B'luru court in person

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A Magistrate court in Bengaluru has said that Tamil superstar Rajinikanth’s wife Latha Rajinikanth who is accused in a forgery case arising out of disputes about the film Kochadiiyaan has to appear in person to file the application for discharge in the case.

The I ACMM court in Bengaluru on December 1 said that since the allegation under Section 463 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) under which she is charged is non-bailable, the accused has to appear in person.

She has to appear in court on or before January 6, 2024. On December 1, the counsel for Latha Rajinikanth filed an application under Criminal Procedure Code Section 239 for the discharge of the accused in the case.

The Complainant however seriously objected and the government advocate stated that the accused had not even obtained bail in the case.

Latha Rajinikanth’s counsel submitted that “as per the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court, Accused is dispensed from her personal appearance.”

But the Magistrate court noted that “But on perusal of the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, it is observed that the dispensing the physical presence of the Accused and also observed that the presence of the Accused can be secured as and when the trial court requires. Admitted the accused has not taken any bail in this case as alleged offenses are non-bailable in nature.”

Therefore, the Court directed that “the counsel for Accused is directed to keep present the Accused on or before 06.01.2024 to make necessary application and for objections to discharge application by 06.01.2024.”

The complaint in the case was filed by Ad Bureau Advertising Private Limited, a Chennai based company. The genesis of the case is the financial transactions between the complainant and M/s Mediaone Global Entertainment Limited.

The Director of the said film was Latha Rajinikanth's daughter and Rajinikanth, her husband was the protagonist. Latha Rajinikanth allegedly executed a guarantee on behalf of Mediaone Global Entertainment Limited in favour of the complainant company and failed to honour it after the film suffered losses.

Latha Rajinikanth had obtained an injunction against 70 media houses from publishing and telecasting wrong news about this financial transaction.

The injunction suit filed by Latha Rajinikanth was dismissed by the court in 2015 itself, and Ad Bureau Advertising filed a complaint subsequently alleging that a false document was used in that case.

Ad Bureau Advertising in its private complaint alleged that "a particular document which was not in existence in a media house and which also does not exist was produced before the civil Court at Bangalore in order to get jurisdiction to entertain the suit and take an order of injunction."

In August 2022, the High Court of Karnataka quashed the charges under Section 196, 199 and 420 (using evidence known to be false, giving false statement and cheating) of the IPC against her but allowed the trial for charges under Section 463 (forgery). (C.C./0008355/2021)