Amaravati, Feb 7 Noted filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma on Friday appeared before Ongole police in Andhra Pradesh in a case related to derogatory posts against Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and their family members
In response to the notice served by the police, he appeared before the inquiry officer at Ongole Rural Police Station.
Circle Inspector N. Srikanth Babu was questioning RGV, as the film director was popularly known.
RGV allegedly posted some morphed pictures of Chief Minister Naidu, his son Nara Lokesh and the Deputy Chief Minister on social media platform X before and after the 2024 general elections.
Based on a complaint from Rama Lingam, mandal-level secretary of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against RGV on November 11, 2024.
The case was filed against Ram Gopal Varma under sections 336 (4) (electronic record forged to harm the reputation), 353 (2) (spread of false information), 356 (2) (defamation), 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy), 196 (promoting enmity), 352 (intentional insult) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and section 67 (publishing obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act.
He was first summoned to appear at the station by November 19, but he didn’t attend and through his lawyer sought one week.
The police sent a fresh notice under section 35 (2) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), directing him to appear at the police station on November 25.
The filmmaker, however, skipped the appearance again and approached Andhra Pradesh High Court. The court later granted him bail but directed him to appear before police to cooperate in the investigation.
RGV had stated that he approached the court as five different cases were booked against him on the same issue. He said he suspected a conspiracy against him with five different cases in five districts on a tweet he had made a year ago.
The director said he did not know what he had tweeted a year ago. "I am very active on Twitter. I have tweeted thousands of times and I have no knowledge what I tweeted a year ago," he had said.
RGV maintained that he is protected by freedom of expression but hastened to add that he would abide by whatever the court decides.
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