A cheating and forgery case against Latha Rajinikanth is not good tidings for actor-politician Rajinikanth, who is busy campaigning against corruption. The apex court pulled up his wife for non-payment of dues, which comes as a major embarrassment for a man who constantly lectures his fans and followers to abide by the law and respect the courts.
Latha Rajinikanth, on Tuesday, faced flak from the Supreme Court over non-payment of dues to the tune of Rs 6.2 crore to a film production company. A bench headed by Ranjan Gogoi slammed the actor’s wife over her attempts to backtrack from the submitted undertaking, where she had given personal assurances to repay the dues.
“We think you should face trial. If you are innocent you will be acquitted. Face the trial,” Justice Ranjan Gogoi observed, according to reports. She had claimed that her previous lawyer had wrongly given the undertaking.
It was in February this year, when the case filed by Ad Bureau Advertising Pvt Ltd came up for hearing, that the bench allowed a period of 12 weeks for Latha to settle the dues. The time period was allotted by the court after Latha Rajinikanth’s lawyer gave the undertaking. The firm had approached the court saying that it had given money during the post-production phase of Kochadaiyaan, released in 2014, to Mediaone Global Entertainment Company Ltd, on the personal guarantee of Latha, who was one of its directors.
The case dates back to 2016, pertaining to the sale of Kochadaiyaan rights. An animation film and historical epic, with Rajinikanth in the lead, the movie was directed by his daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth. In 2016, two years after Kochadaiyaan bombed in the box office, Chennai based company Ad Bureau Advertisiing Pvt Ltd approached the court. The advertising company filed a petition alleging that they were asked to assist the post-production work of Kochadaiyaan, by Mediaone Global Entertainment, on the personal guarantee of Latha Rajinikanth. So, the company loaned an amount of Rs 10 crore for the film. But, later, it was discovered that MediaOne sold the Tamil Nadu distribution rights to Eros International without consulting them.
Subsequently on July 8, 2016, the Supreme Court issued a notice to Latha over the selling off the rights of Kochadaiyaan. In February this year, the apex Court had given 12 weeks time to Latha to settle the dues. However, Tuesday’s observation by the court is seen as a massive setback for Rajinikanth, who is currently shooting in the Himalayas for his untitled film produced by Sun Pictures and directed by Karthik Subbaraj. His Rajini Makkal Mandram is expanding massively, with a rigorous membership drive; the expectations on him in the political front are sky high.
In fact, Latha Rajinikanth has been one of the pillars of support for the actor. On social media, she has been tweeting for the superstar. In one of her tweets with the hashtag Andre Sonna Rajini (Rajini had said it then), she said, “The voice of the good will reach. But it will take time.” The tweet was in response to a news item that a fringe group Makkal Adhikaram was behind the Thoothukudi protests. Rajinikanth, on his visit to Thoothukudi, had alleged that anti-social elements instigated the violence.