Mumbai: An Uttar Pradesh police team, here to investigate a complaint against the web series ‘Tandav’, recorded statements of the director, writer and producer on Friday. UP police had registered FIRs against the show’s makers and OTT platform Amazon Prime Video’s content head for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and portraying police poorly. Later, Ghatkopar police also lodged a case. Portions from at least two controversial scenes of the series have been snipped off.

“We visited the residence of the show’s director, Ali Abbas Zafar, on Thursday. As he was unavailable, we left behind a notice for him to appear before the investigating officer in Lucknow by January 27 and record his statement,” said Anil Kumar Singh, an Uttar Pradesh police officer. Singh said their contact numbers were mentioned in the notice.

“Zafar got in touch with us and expressed willingness to get his statement recorded in Mumbai itself. It was agreed that statements of Zafar, writer Gaurav Solanki and producer Himanshu Mehra would be recorded at their office in Andheri (W) on Friday,” said Singh. Accordingly, their statements were recorded.

Fourth accused, Aparna Purohit from Amazon Prime Video, was not here, police said. Bombay High Court has granted three weeks’ transit anticipatory bail to all four accused.

Another UP police team, here to probe a complaint against the web series ‘Mirzapur’, began investigations on Friday after waiting for two days for a nod from Mumbai crime branch. A complaint was registered against the show’s makers in UP for outraging religious sentiments. “We verified addresses of the accused and visited the OTT platform’s office in BKC, but they were not available on Friday. We may return to UP and send them notices by post,” said inspector V K Chaurasia.

UP police had, on their own, gone to the residence of one of the show’s producers on Thursday, but Mumbai Police stepped in and asked them to first obtain permission. A nod was given on Friday. There have been demands from several right-wing groups demanding censorship of online content. In October 2020, Supreme Court had issued a notice to Centre and Internet and Mobile Association of India, in a petition to regulate OTT platforms by an autonomous body.