Entertainment News | Photo Row: Filmmaker Das's Transit Pre-arrest Bail Plea Rejected by HC; He Gets Summons from Gujarat Cops

Mumbai/Ahmedabad, May 24 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected the transit pre-arrest bail plea filed by filmmaker Avinash Das, who was booked by the Gujarat Police for sharing a photo of Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal, who was recently arrested by the ED in a money laundering case.

In a related development, the Gujarat Police have summoned Mumbai-based Das (46), asking him to appear before them on Wednesday in connection with an FIR registered against him in Ahmedabad over the photo controversy, an official said.

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A vacation bench of Justice Bharati Dangre rejected Das' transit anticipatory bail plea, filed through advocate Adil Khatri, and directed the filmmaker to “approach the appropriate forum for relief".

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Justice Dangre said Ahmedabad, where the FIR against Das was registered, was not too far from Mumbai.

The filmmaker should approach the court concerned in Ahmedabad for protection from arrest or any other relief pertaining to the case, the judge said.

Meanwhile, according to a Mumbai police official, Das, who resides in suburban Andheri, was served summons via an email under section 41A of the CrPC (notice of appearance before police officer) on Monday night.

Sources in the Ahmedabad crime branch confirmed the development.

The filmmaker's lawyer said he will file an anticipatory bail application in an Ahmedabad court on behalf of his client.

Khatri said, "Our client Avinash Das has received a notice under section 41A of the CrPC yesterday late night in his email. The police have summoned him to remain present on Wednesday in Gujarat. We are immediately filing an anticipatory bail application before the Sessions court at Ahmedabad for relief.''

The Enforcement Directorate earlier this month arrested Jharkhand mining secretary Singhal in a case of money laundering involving alleged diversion of MGNREGA funds, and also seized over Rs 18 crore in cash from the house of a chartered accountant, allegedly linked to the IAS officer.

An official from Ahmedabad Police's Detection of Crime Branch last week said Das shared the photo on his Twitter handle on May 8.

The photo showed Shah and Singhal at a public event five years ago, but Das tweeted it to mislead people and defame the minister's reputation, the official had said.

In the FIR, Das has also been booked under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and the IT Act, for allegedly insulting the national flag by posting on March 17 a morphed picture of a woman wearing the tricolour on his Facebook account.

The filmmaker has directed the 2017 Hindi movie 'Anaarkali of Aarah' starring Swara Bhasker, Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi, among others.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)