Linga film dispute: no offence made out for action,says Police

In its counter to a petition alleging that superstar Rajnikanth's multi-lingual film "Linga" was based on a stolen story, Tamil Nadu Police today stated in the Madras High Court that no offence had been made out by the petitioner to enable them take action.
In the counter filed on behalf of the state DGP and the IGP, Madurai Police Commissioner Sanjay Mathur said the complaint (before police) as well as the petition had been filed, by debutant director K R Ravirathinam, on the assumption that the story of "Linga" is the same as that of his story.
The complainant had not made out any offence, particularly cognizable offence, to enable police take action, he said.

The petitioner has approached the court stating that he was directing a film named "Mullai Vanam 999", based on the story of a dam construction, reflecting the Mullaiperiyar reservoir construction, and it had been stolen and used for the yet-to-be released 'Linga'.
The counter also submitted that the relief claimed by the petitioner for a detailed inquiry by appointing a fact- finding committee to ascertain the true authorship of the story was not within the limits of the police.
"The petition filed for conducting a detailed inquiry by appointing a fact-finding committee to find out the true authoriship and ownership of the single storyline found in both the feature films "Mullai Vanam 999" and "Linga", even before the Inspector commenced his inquiry, is not within the limits of the police," he said.

Further, the petitioner had not produced his story during the inquiry by the Inspector. Similarly, the story writer of the film "Linga" also claimed that they had not disclosed the storyline anywhere.

The Information Technology Act, 2000, was also not applicable in the circumstances surrounding the film "Linga", the counter said.
The averments of the petitioner in the complaint as well as his statement to the police would not make out any offence under IPC including 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating). The criminal conspiracy would arise only when an offence was made out.
The Commissioner said the petitioner had not even started producing the film. He had only conducted the pooja. He was not aware of the Linga film's contents also.

The petitioner has sought a direction from the court to the respondents, including police officials and the producer of 'Linga', to act on his respresentation for a detailed inquiry into the true authorship and ownership of the story.
Justice M.Venugopal, after hearing both the sides, reserved his orders.
Earlier, Director of 'Linga' K S Ravikumar and storywriter S Ponkumaran as well as Rajnikanth filed separate counters denying the charge by the petitioner.