Abhijit Sathe (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 18, 2014)

The CEO of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), who has been booked in a bribery case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), had delayed certifying two Hindi films - Kick and Singham Returns - which led to their producers making several visits to the CBFC office in Mumbai to get censor certificates before their release dates, according to the CBI probe.

Kick was released in late July and Singham Returns on August 15. CBI sources said that Singham Returns director Rohit Shetty even visited CBFC CEO Rakesh Kumar's residence in Colaba to request him to clear his film as soon as possible. The movie was cleared after this visit. Similarly, Kick producer Sajid Nadiadwala also called on Kumar at the latter's office just before his film's release after Kumar expressed reservations about some scenes in the movie.

Kumar was booked on August 14 after a censor certification agent and a CBFC advisory panel member for allegedly seeking a Rs 70,000 bribe on his behalf to clear a film from Chhattisgarh, 'Mor Dauki ke Bihav', which was slated for an August 15 release.

CBI sources said that although Kick and Singham Returns are not part of their current case, they will investigate these developments to ascertain Kumar's conduct with regard to film producers and TV production houses.

As of now, the CBI is interrogating CBFC panel member Sarvesh Jaiswal and agent Shripati Mishra, who were arrested. Mishra allegedly demanded money from the Chhattisgarh film producer and said the money was to be paid to Kumar. The information on 'Kick' and 'Singham Returns' came from the interrogations of Jaiswal and Mishra, sources said.

Jaiswal, a Congress worker from north Mumbai, was recommended for the CBFC panel member's post by a former Congress MP. Although Jaiswal's bio-data says he is a graduate, he reportedly told the CBI that he was an SSC dropout.

Sources said that the long weekend, which included public holidays, had delayed searches of Kumar's bank lockers and the assessment of transactions involving close to half-a-dozen bank accounts belonging to him. The lockers will be opened on Tuesday, following which a decision will be taken on whether he should be arrested, sources said.

Shetty and Nadiadwala cound not be reached for comment. 'Singham Returns' and 'Kick' are doing well at the box office, with the former collecting Rs 50-crore-plus in India in its first two days and the latter collecting Rs 373 crore worldwide to date.

Meanwhile, the CBI has recorded the statements of at least four agents who, in CBFC circles, are known to have frequent contact with Kumar.

The CBI registered an FIR against Kumar, Mishra and Jaiswal based on a complaint given by a Chhatisgarh film producer. Members of the film fraternity had earlier expressed shock at the case. "It's an exceptional case and, I'm guessing, unprecedented," said filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.

CBFC chairperson Leela Samson, who said she had received complaints about Kumar's conduct, said, "There were no complaints of bribery, but issues over delays. When I confronted him, he would listen to me, but the complaints didn't stop." The CBI in its searches at Kumar's house in Badhwar Park recovered Rs 10.3 lakh in cash. Sources said Kumar may be questioned soon. 
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Work at CBFC comes to a standstill

Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; August 18, 2014)

The certification work at the CBFC has come to a standstill after an agent and a panel member were arrested by the CBI and a house search of CEO Rakesh Kumar was conducted recently. A member from the board says, “There are only 28 panel members in Mumbai and we have a backlog of 40 feature films and 64 video films. There is no clarity when will the boards working will go back to normalcy.’’

The Mumbai region has apparently been flooded with films from Tamil Nadu and Kolkata as well. The source adds, “We also have films awaiting recertification for television. Each screening requires at least four panel members and one officer. On an average about three to four screenings will have to take place everyday, which is not possible given our present strength.’’

It may be pointed out that many films like Finding Fanny, Daawat- E- Ishq, Desi Kattey, Raja Natwarlal, Mary Kom and Creature are slated to release within the next month. As per the regulation, films’ have to be certified at least 21 days before the release. It remains to be seen if the current situation will affect these films’ release.