Mumbai police lodge FIR over Kunal Kamra’s ‘gaddar’ jibe; Sena activists booked for vandalism

Dixit Gedam, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 9, said, “Two offences have been registered at Khar police station. One offence is against the stand-up comedian over derogatory comments. The second offence is against people who ransacked the Unicontinental hotel. Further investigation is going on.”

As per Khar police’s suo motu FIR against them, “In the studio, the activists were shouting slogans like ‘Shiv Sena zindabad’. They went there and stopped the show. They also evicted the citizens there. They pushed and abused the employees working there. There was a large crowd there when they asked people to leave the hotel. At the time, a group of activists were present, including local leader Rahool Kanal.”

The First Information Report (FIR) against Kamra was lodged on the basis of a complaint by Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel. Kamra was booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including 353(1)(b), 353(2) (statements conducing to public mischief), and 356(2) (defamation), an officer from MIDC police station said. The MIDC police later transferred the Zero FIR to Khar police.

The viral clip is part of the 45-minute video titled ‘Naya Bharat’ that Kamra uploaded on Sunday on his YouTube channel @KunalKamra which has 2.31 million subscribers. The video was viewed by more than 1 million viewers by 12 noon.

During the show, Kamra allegedly directed a jibe at Shinde, referring to him as a “gaddar (traitor)”. After a video clip of the remark went viral, nearly three dozen supporters of the Shiv Sena chief on Sunday ransacked the studio at the Unicontinental hotel in Khar where Kamra recorded the show. The Khar police registered an FIR against Sena activists for vandalisation.

The complaint filed by Patel stated, “Kunal Kamra, during a stand-up comedy show at Continental Hotel, Khar, defamed our leader Eknath Shinde-ji by making derogatory statements about his moral conduct. He also created hatred between the two political parties by tarnishing the sentiments of our party and our rival political parties towards each other.”

In the video, Kamra is seen saying, “Shiv Sena first came out of the BJP, then Shiv Sena came out of Shiv Sena. NCP came out of NCP, now they have given nine buttons to one voter… Everyone got confused.”

Later, allegedly referring to Shinde’s defection from the undivided Shiv Sena in 2022, Kamra sang the lines of a popular song from the film Dil Toh Pagal Hai: “Thane ki rickshaw, chehre pe daadi, aankho me chashma haaye.. Ek jhalak dikhlaye kabhi Guwahati me chup jaaye… (Thane’s rickshaw, beard on the face, glasses on the eyes… Sometimes he hides in Guwahati…)”.

Without naming the Sena chief, he contiued, “Meri nazar se tum dekho gaddar nazar wo aaye… mantri nahi wo dalbadlu hai aur kaha kya jaaye.. Jiss thali me khaye usme hi chhed kar jaaye.. mantralay se zyada Fadnavis ki godi me mil jaye… Teer kaman mila hai isko baap mera yeh chahe… Pariwar vaad khatm karna tha, kisi ka baap chura ye jaaye… (If you look through my eyes, you would see a traitor… He is not a minister, he is a swindler and what else should he go to… He is often found in the lap of Fadnavis instead of the Mantralaya.. He got the bow-arrow (symbol) which my father wants… (They) wanted to finished nepotism, but stole someone’s father…)”.

Sena leaders were quick to condemn the standup comic’s remarks.