Actor KRK arrested over defamatory tweets; in judicial custody

A court on Tuesday sent actor and film critic Kamal Rashid Khan, popularly known as KRK, into 14-day judicial custody after he was arrested by the city police over his alleged defamatory tweets posted two years ago.

While his lawyer said the tweets were about the film “Laxmii Bomb” (later titled as “Laxmii”) starring Akshay Kumar, police did not disclose any details.

Khan was arrested at the Mumbai airport late Monday night after he arrived from Dubai.

Police produced him before a magistrates court in Borivali and sought his custody for four days for investigation. But the court rejected the request and sent him to 14-day judicial custody.

His lawyer Ashok Sarogi then filed a bail application which was likely to be heard later in the day.

As per his lawyer, the police arrested Khan for tweets against Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar and a film producer regarding the film “Laxmi Bomb”.

The First Information Report in the case had been registered against Khan in 2020 under Indian Penal Code sections 153 (giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 500 (defamation) and provisions of the Information Technology Act, police said. A look-out circular too had been issued against him, a police official said.

(With Agency inputs)