Comedian Kunal Kamra Skips Third Summons from Police, Dropped by BookMyShow from its List
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 5: The Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Saturday skipped the third summon issued by the Mumbai Police in connection with a case over his alleged controversial remarks about Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, even as BookMyShow is reported to have taken him off the sale and artists’ list from its platforms.
This is the third time Kamra failed to appear before the police, an official said. The Mumbai Police had issued the third summons to the stand-up comedian earlier on Tuesday and had asked to appear before it on April 5 in the case lodged by Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel for allegedly making defamatory remarks against Mr Shinde during one of his shows.
Mr Shinde’s Shiv Sena party functionary Rahool Kanal on Saturday claimed BookMyShow has taken stand-up comedian off the sale and artists list from its platforms. Mr Kanal, the social media in-charge of the party, thanked BookMyShow CEO Ashish Hemrajani for keeping its portal “clean and keeping such artists out of the list of pure entertainment.”
The BookMyShow team, however, refused to confirm or deny the claim and said they have no comments to offer as of now. Reacting to these reports, Mr Kamra asked BookMyShow to confirm if he can still list his shows on their platform. “If not, it’s fine. I understand,” he wrote on X.
Earlier this week, a team from the Khar police visited Mr Kamra’s residence in Mahim, where his parents live, after he skipped the second summons.
The 36-year-old stand-up comedian has kicked up a major political storm in Maharashtra for taking a jibe at Shinde’s political career in his recent 45-minute-long show by modifying the lyrics of a popular Hindi movie song. Mr Kamra had dubbed a parody song of a Hindi film, Dil Toh Pagal Hai and other films—some of which have music rights owned by T-Series, and called Mr Shinde a “traitor” for his 2022 rebellion against the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.
Recorded in February, the programme called ‘Naya Bharat’ was uploaded on Kamra’s YouTube channel on March 23, drawing strong reactions from the Shiv Sainiks. After the clip went viral on social media, Shiv Sena warned of legal action and some of its workers vandalised the venue where the show was recorded. 12 party leaders were arrested but were later released on bail.
Three separate cases have been filed against the stand-up comedian at Khar police station, with one complaint lodged by the Mayor of Jalgaon city and the other two by a hotelier and a businessman from Nashik, according to the Mumbai Police.
Last month, the Madras High Court granted interim anticipatory bail to Kamra in connection with multiple FIRs filed against him. Justice Sunder Mohan had approved the bail with conditions, effective until April 7 till he could approach the courts in Mumbai. Mr Kamra had moved the Madras High Court seeking transit anticipatory bail, citing numerous threats he had received following his recent satirical comments.
On Wednesday, Mr Shinde’s party also submitted a written complaint to the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) seeking an investigation into the funds Kunal Kamra allegedly received from various countries through his videos.
According to media reports, the complainant has urged the EOW to probe the financial transactions linked to Mr Kamra’s content raising concerns over the sources of his income.
On Wednesday, Mr Kamra issued an apology to those who attended his show after the Mumbai Police reportedly sent notices to some of them for questioning. “I am deeply sorry for the inconvenience that attending my show has caused to you. Please email me so that I can schedule your next vacation anywhere you’d like in India,” he said.
