Mumbai Oct 5: After registering a corruption case against three private persons and unknown officials of Mumbai-based Central Board of Film Certification, the officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has conducted search operation on the CBFC office in Mumbai.
It may be recalled that the Tamil actor-producer Vishal had alleged that, in Mumbai, he paid about ₹6.50 lakh for the screening and certification of the Hindi version of his film Mark Antony.
Those named as accused in the First Information Report are Merlin Menaga, Jeeja Ramdas, and Rajan M.
According to the CBI, in September, 2023, one of the accused persons conspired with the others to get ₹7 lakh in bribe for arranging a censor certificate from the CBFC for a movie dubbed in Hindi.
Thereafter, on September 26, the required certificate was allegedly issued by the CBFC. “It was also alleged that in addition to the said amount, the accused obtained ₹20,000 in her bank account from the account of a private company as coordinating fees for herself.
An amount of ₹6.50 lakh was allegedly withdrawn immediately in cash,” said the agency on Thursday.
The CBI said searches were carried out on four different premises, including in Mumbai, of the accused and some others.
