Kapil Sharma sends legal notice to entertainment portal, journalist over ‘defamatory articles’
Kapil has sought an unconditional public apology within seven days of receiving the notice
Actor-comedian Kapil Sharma on Wednesday sent a legal notice to entertainment portal SpotboyE and journalist Vickey Lalwani for posting defamatory articles and accused them of character assassination.
Kapil claimed that Vicky Lalwani, working with 9X Media Pvt. Ltd, allegedly published “false, malicious, fraudulent articles” on the digital platform Spotboye. He has sought an unconditional public apology within seven days of receiving the notice.
In the notice, the actor has urged the publication to “desist from publishing and airing defamatory, slanderous and libelous statements/news /interviews” against him”, and has asked them to immediately withdraw the contents of all defamatory articles/publications on all forms of media.
Kapil’s advocate Tanveer Nizam confirmed sending the legal notice.
“In view of the articles by Lalwani on Spotboye to willfully defame my client, we have sent them a legal notice to publicly apologise within seven days failing which we will institute civil and criminal proceedings against both,” Nizam said in a statement.
Kapil and Lalwani were embroiled in a controversy after the latter posted an audio clip of their phone conversation online. In the recording, Kapil could be heard hurling abuses at Lalwani. The clip shocked and alienated many of the comic’s fans.
According to the notice, Lalwani under the “guise of journalism” has been publishing defamatory articles against Sharma since March 18, 2017.
Kapil was agonised by articles with “false and frivolous, defamatory personal information”, which as the notice says, are “a product of collusion” between Lalwani and the comedian’s earlier managers/associates Neeti and Preeti Simoes to “malign his image in the eyes of his fans, industry and public at large”.
The notice claims that Sharma’s hard-earned reputation has suffered grave and irreparable damage. He has claimed damages to the tune of Rs 100 Crore which are to be “deposited in National Defence Fund”.
Last year, Kapil had a mid-air fight with his colleague, comedian Sunil Grover. The fight led to a widely talked about controversy, after which they parted ways professionally from ‘Comedy Nights With Kapil’.
After a long break from the show, he was scheduled to return to television with his new show ‘Family Time With Kapil Sharma’. The show, however, failed to garner the expected response and went off on a break after only two episodes.
