The Bombay High Court stayed investigation on a first information report filed against Sony Pictures Network India Private Limited and others involved in the making of Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, in a defamation case by a Pune bank, Live Law reported on Monday.
Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, a 10-episode drama web series directed by Hansal Mehta premiered on SonyLIV on October 9, 2020.
Adapting the real-life stories of Gujarat-born and Mumbai-based stockbroker Harshad Mehta, who was the mastermind of the 1992 securities scam worth thousands of crores, the series is based on the book titled The Scam: Who Won, Who Lost, Who Got Away by journalists Debashis Basu and Sucheta Dalal. Harshad Mehta was convicted by the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court in the alleged financial scandal valued at Rs 500 crore. He died from heart failure while in judicial custody in 2001.
The series stars Pratik Gandhi in the lead along with Shreya Dhanwanthary, Hemant Kher and Nikhil Dwivedi.
On July 4, Pune’s Karad Urban Co-operative Bank (KUCB) filed a complaint against Sony Pictures Network Pvt Ltd under sections 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code, sections 102, 107 (falsely applying for trademarks) of the Trademarks Act and Sections 66C and 43(b) of the IT Act.
The bank stated that there was a display of its logo that resembles its trademark in Scam 1992’s third episode. The organisation said that it caused severe damage to its financial, commercial and social reputation.
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After Sony Pictures Network India Pvt Ltd had moved the High Court on August 20 to quash the FIR petition by KUCB, the court had orally asked the Pune Police to not take any coercive action against the Sony pictures for the moment.
Denying the allegations by the bank, Sony Pictures claimed that the said logo- ‘Bank of Karaj’- appeared on a calendar in the background only for a few seconds. It was used to portray ‘Bank of Karad’ as it was widely known for its involvement in the scam and was placed under liquidation and later merged with the Bank of India in 1994.
In their petition to quash the FIR, Sony Pictures mentioning that there was a disclaimer at the beginning of every episode.
Sony Pictures also pointed out that despite the recording of the authorized representative’s statement, the police repeatedly called him and threatened him with arrest as they had not taken the series off air.