Shootout at Wadala director booked for forgery

A week after Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan's arrest for assaulting an NRI businessman, filmmaker Sanjay Gupta has found himself on the wrong side of the law with city police booking him for alleged misuse of the name of Mumbai Police Commissioner's office for the launch of a film.
According to police, Gupta and queen of TV soaps Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Motion Pictures allegedly forged letterhead of the city police commissioner to send invitations for the press conference of the upcoming flick "Shootout at Wadala" held yesterday at Mehboob Studios.

"Sanjay Gupta, Balaji Motion Pictures (Producer) and Glamsham.com (Bollywood movie portal) have been booked for cheating and forgery as they misused the name of the office of the Mumbai Police Commissioner by using the rubber stamp of police to promote their film," Nandkumar Mhetar, Senior Inspector at Versova Police station, said.

The invite also said the police chief would be present at the event and brief the media on the current status of crime in the city, Mhetar added.

The accused were booked under sections 417 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 Forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 474 (Having possession of document described in Section 466 or 467, knowing it to be forged and intending to use it as genuine) of the IPC and 68 of the IT Act, the officer said, adding that arrests in the case could be made.

The "Dus Kahaniyan" and "Shootout at Lokhandwala" producer said a "misunderstanding" had resulted in the police action as the invite itself was "mock".

"It is a bit of a misunderstanding but we will clear it, not an issue," he said on coming to know of the case.

"If we look at it then you would know that nowhere the word Mumbai is mentioned. The emblem is mock....We know what we are doing. Also, there is a disclaimer behind the invite and it is an invite from a fictional office..We all know it is not Bombay Police, it is Mumbai police today," he said.

Sources in the police department said the arrests would be made only after a thorough investigation. But, if arrested, the accused would have to seek bail from court as the sections applied against are non-bailable, they said.

The FIR was registered at Versova police station as Gupta's office falls within its jurisdiction, though the event was organised at suburban Bandra, the officer said.

The subject of the controversial invite is "Briefing on the current crime scenario in Bombay".

"This is to inform you that the Commissioner of Police requests your presence on the 29th of the February at 3.15 pm on stage No 2 of Mehboob Studio to address the sudden and dangerous rise of organised crime in the city," the invitation reads.

The invite further states, "The Commissioner would like to issue a statement regarding how the police force plans to respond. Experts from White Feather Films and Balaji Motion Pictures will present their statements on the shootout at Wadala. Your presence is a must."

It concludes with "Signed under hand and seal on this 27th day of February 1981 (sic)".

The invite had the "Bombay Police" emblem and signature of one Parull Gossain from "The Commissioner's office, Bandra Police station, Krishna Chandra Marg, Bandra (West), Bombay 400050."

"Shootout at Wadala", a sequel to Gupta's 2007 film "Shootout at Lokhandwala" is based on the first-ever registered encounter by Mumbai police of gangster Manya Surve, who was shot dead at suburban Wadala in the 1990s.

The film, directed by Gupta and starring John Abraham, Kangana Ranaut, Anil Kapoor, Sonu Sood and Manoj Bajpayee, is slated to release on Decmber 7 this year.