Mumbai HC refuses interim relief to Ranveer, Arjun in AIB event row

The Bombay High Court today refused to grant any interim relief to actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor on an FIR filed against them and some other film personalities in 2015 for allegedly using obscene and abusive language during the comedy event 'AIB Knockout'.

A bench of justices R M Savant and Sarang Kotwal directed the actors' lawyer to first serve a copy of their plea to one of the complainants in the case, activist Santosh Dundkar.

The actors had urged the court to direct, by way of an interim relief, the Pune and Mumbai police to refrain from taking any coercive action against them.

The bench, however, said it will consider the prayer only after the complainant was provided a copy of the petition, and scheduled the matter for further hearing on April 3.

On December 20, 2014, Singh and Kapoor, along with 10 other celebrities, including Karan Johar, Deepika Padukone, and members of the AIB team, had performed at a charity event in Worli area here.

The video of the event was uploaded on YouTube a year later and it went viral.

In February 2015, Dundkar filed a complaint with the chief metropolitan magistrate of Gurgaon court, alleging that the show was "vulgar, obscene...pornographic."

The court then ordered that an FIR be registered against all the 10 people.

Soon after, another FIR was registered against all 10 of them in Pune following a complaint by a local alleging obscenity during the event.

Singh and Kapoor approached the high court earlier this year after they received a summons from the Pune police, directing them to visit the police station for questioning and recording their statements.

They claimed in their plea that the FIRs against them bore an ulterior motive.

They also alleged that the FIRs were filed with a "mischievous" and mala fide intent, and sought that the same be quashed.

Later, another bench of the Bombay High Court had granted an interim relief to Padukone, Johar, and the AIB members and directed both the Mumbai and Pune police not to take any coercive action against them until further orders.