Producer and friend of Sushant Singh Rajput, Sandip Ssingh has sent a legal notice to journalist Arnab Goswami and his channel Republic TV for alleged defamation. Sandip was initially seen as one of the close confidantes of the late actor but several news reports and a few people later claimed he had staged his closeness to the Chhichhore star. In his legal notice, advocate Rajesh Kumar, on behalf of Sandip, has cited names of people who appeared on the news channel and gave statements against the producer. The notice names Smita Parikh and Surjeet Singh Rathore, among a few others. Sandip sought removal of all the related footage and articles allegedly defaming him. He also sought an unconditional apology and a compensation of Rs. 200 crore within 15 days of the notice being served.
“By this Legal Notice, you Noticees hereby called upon to drop, delete and remove all the malicious footage and articles telecasting forthwith against my client or any one on your behalf, on any other print/online forum and Tv, whatsoever and tender/release an unconditional public apology in writing/Video to my client for your vexatious and frivolous allegations you have already made. The said apology should include the true facts about the integrity of my client as can be evidenced from his impeccable track record,” the notice said. “Further you are required to compensate my client to the tune of Rs.200.00 Crores (Two Hundred Crores Only) for maligning his image in public and damages you have made till date. If you failed to comply with the requirements stated above within 15 days from the receipt of this notice, I have clear instructions to take strict legal action against you Noticees by filing civil as well as criminal cases in appropriate courts of law, which shall be solely at your own risks, costs and consequences,” it added.
Addressed to Republic TV and the channel editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, the legal notice dated October 14 said, “That my client is a well known. reputed and established producer and filmmaker in Bollywood against whom you have been running/ airing defamatory news items with criminal intent to extort money despite the fact that you were very well aware that my client and late Sushant Singh Rajput, (Film Actor of Bollywood) were known to each other from the days of their struggle. That my client received several massages from your correspondents/ employees with the criminal intent and in order to extortion, you had publicly demanded my client arrest and termed him as key conspirator and murderer. You the above noticees falsely imputing my client in TV debates, progammes, social media platforms almost every day without any cogent evidence and intentionally interfering in the investigation carried out by the investigations agencies such as CBI and Mumbai Police.” It was also alleged that the PR team of Sandeep had clicked a photograph to distribute in the media. The notice further claims that a few reports on Republic TV had suggested that Sandeep was against the CBI probe. It also mentions a hashtag #ArrestSandeepSingh that was run by the channel. Earlier on Tuesday, 34 Bollywood production houses and four organisations from the industry came together to move the Delhi High Court, seeking to restrain certain news channels from making “irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks” against the film industry. The plea named Republic TV, among other channels.