Chennai: The Kochadaiiyaan mess in which Latha, wife of superstar Rajinikanth, was entangled for months now, took a nasty turn with the Bengaluru police registering an FIR against her for allegedly producing fake documents in a court in Bengaluru to get a gag order on the media. She had allegedly created a fake letterhead under the Publishers and Broadcast Welfare Association of India while approaching the court to get a gag order on 76 publications that had put out news about the money dispute she had with Ad Bureau, one of the commissioned producers, in the first week of December last year.
Immediately after newspapers published the news, Latha Rajinikanth slapped a legal notice on Ad Bureau and Abhirchand Nahar, denying the charges made against her. The affidavit filed by her counsel in the Bengaluru court had mentioned that she had received a letter from the Publishers and Broadcasters Welfare Association of India which is now believed to be a fake letter. In the end of November last year, Ad Bureau had alleged fraud by Latha and double-selling the rights of Kochadaiiyaan. This was widely published in various newspapers and aired on TV. After this, she obtained a gag order from a court in Bengaluru restraining the media from publishing any news related to the money dispute. However, the order was vacated by the Madras high court in March this year.
On June 9, the additional chief metropolitan magistrate’s court in Bengaluru has asked the police to register an FIR against her. In November, Ad Bureau, a company that was brought in to help with post-production, claimed that they gave Rs10 crore to help the makers of Kochadaiiyaan complete the film and release it. At the time, Abirchand Nahar of Ad Bureau said Kochadaiiyaan’s producer, Mediaone Global Entertainment Ltd, owed his company Rs 6.84 crore.
He also said his company loaned the amount only because Latha herself signed as guarantor. They also double sold the Tamil Nadu rights of Kochadaiiyaan without informing us, he said. According to Ad Bureau, the Tamil Nadu lease rights of Kochadaiiyaan were sold to the agency through an agreement on April 25 by Dr J. Murali Manohar, director of Mediaone Global Entertainment Ltd, and guaranteed by Latha.
“However, the producer of the film along with the guarantor, deliberately with the intention to defraud us, sold the rights belonging to us illegally to Eros International without informing us and without clearing any of our payments,” the complaint says.
