The Union government on Friday ordered an “immediate inquiry” into Tamil actor Vishal’s allegation that he had to pay Rs 6.5 lakh to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for the certification of the Hindi version of his Tamil film Mark Antony. Vishal had made the allegations of bribery against the Mumbai office of CBFC in a social media post on Thursday, the same day the film’s Hindi version was released in theatres. The post also had details of the monetary transactions he had made to alleged middlemen who sought bribes to certify his film. He also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde to investigate the “scam”. Taking cognisance of his allegations, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Friday tweeted: “The government has zero tolerance for corruption and strictest action will be taken against anyone found involved.” “A senior officer from the Ministry has been deputed… to conduct an inquiry today,” it stated, urging people to share information about “any other instance of harassment by CBFC”. Officials told The Indian Express that I&B Additional Secretary Neerja Sekhar was dispatched to Mumbai Friday to conduct an inquiry and submit a report to the ministry at the earliest. The CBFC said in a statement Friday that despite the online certification system (E-Cinepramaan) in place, applicants still choose to apply through intermediaries or agents, which is against the objective of eliminating third-party involvement in certification. Officials said that with the implementation of digitisation and automation, the interference of intermediaries and agents has already come down. The certification body — with Prasoon Joshi as its chairman and IRSS officer Ravinder Bhakar as its CEO — said it has taken note of the allegations very seriously and will take “strictest action” against anyone found involved. It also warned against any “attempt to malign the image of CBFC”. The Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association also expressed concern over the allegations made against CBFC officials and demanded a CBI enquiry. “We were left with no other option. We were asked to pay Rs 3 lakh first, just for the screening. The rest Rs 3.5 lakh was for the certificate,” Vishal had claimed.
