Hyderabad: The Saroornagar police has registered a case against filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma for his controversial statements on Ganesha and Vinayaka Chathurthi celebrations.
The police booked RGV on Sunday for deliberately hurting religious feelings and for promoting enmity between communities. In a series of tweets RGV had allegedly ridiculed the Hindu god and questioned the logic of devotees worshiping Ganesha.
Inspector B. Naveen Reddy said the police has started a probe. However, jurisdictional issues exist since RGV lives in Mumbai. The police may hand over the case to the cyber crime unit soon.
RGV took a dig at Ganesh devotees on Friday and Saturday. He tweeted “Does Lord Ganesha eat with his hands or his trunk?” and “I would really love to know from Lord Ganesha's devotees a list of what obstacles he has removed in the years they prayed to him.”
RGV, who usually endorses atheistic ideas, also mocked at the practice of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. He tweeted, “Happy Ganesh Chaturthi. May this day, August 29, bring happiness to everybody so that there will be no problems from August 30.”
However, as twitteratis started reacting to the tweets aggressively, RGV tried to defend himself saying that “his questions on Ganesha stemmed from his ignorance.” Later, he also apologised for hurting the sentiments of devotees. “My tweets on Ganesha were not intended to hurt sentiments...but if they did I sincerely apologise,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, activists of the BJP, RSS and VHP staged a protest and burnt RGV’s effigy on Sunday at Tenali. BJP Tenali convener P. Ramak-rishna strongly condemned the remarks of Mr Varma and sought stern action against him. The protesters lodged a complaint with the Tenali one town police station against RGV. Tenali CI Kamalakara Rao said the police has registered a case.
