Karnataka HC grants partial relief to Rajinikanth's wife in financial cheating case

Superstar Rajnikanth's wife Latha's charges of submitting fake documents to the court to obtain an injunction against media have been dropped by the High Court. The case was filed in June 2015 during the controversy regarding the payment of compensation to M/S. Ad Bureau Advertising Pvt. Ltd. after their loss due to the film Kochadaiiyaan.

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday gave a green signal to the trial court to proceed with the forgery case after quashing the cheating case filed against South Indian Superstar Rajinikanth's wife Latha.

Latha had filed a criminal petition in the High Court seeking to quash the cheating case filed against her in connection with the financial loss case from the Kochadaiiyaan movie. A single-member bench led by Justice M Nagaprasanna, which inquired into the matter, passed an order quashing the cheating case against the petitioner. But the Magistrate's Court directed the court to proceed with the case of alleged copying and disposing of it according to law.

Rajinikanth's daughter, Soundarya Rajinikanth, directed the Tamil movie Kochadaiiyaan. In connection with this film, there was a financial deal between M/S. Ad Bureau Advertisement Private Limited and M/S. Media One Global Entertainment Limited. Latha had given a security guarantee on behalf of Media One Company.

However, despite the loss of the film, she did not pay compensation to M/S. Ad Bureau Advertising Private Limited. This controversy was published in newspapers and aired on electronic media. Latha had filed an application in the Bangalore City Civil and Sessions Court demanding that the media should be restrained from broadcasting the news.

On December 2, 2014, the court issued a restraining order against the media. However, on February 13, 2015, the trial was transferred to a court having trial jurisdiction. At this time, the order which had imposed restrictions on the media was cancelled. In 2016, the High Court dismissed Latha's petition challenging this order.

In the meantime, M/S. Ad Bureau Advertising Pvt. Ltd. had filed a private complaint with the Halasuru Gate Police Station on May 30, 2015, alleging that Latha had submitted a fake document of an organization, not under the Bengaluru Press Club, to obtain an injunction against the media. On June 9, 2015, the police registered an FIR against Latha. Later the police completed the investigation and submitted the charge sheet to the subordinate court.

Rajinikanth's wife Latha had moved to the Karnataka HC to quash the trial of the case against her in the subordinate court. The court has granted partial relief to Latha in the case.