Court grants conditional bail to Latha Rajinikanth in forgery case

Bengaluru: A court here has granted conditional bail to Tamil film actor Rajinikanth’s wife Latha Rajinikanth who is accused in a forgery case arising out of a dispute concerning the 2014 film titled 'Kochadaiiyaan'.

Latha Rajinikanth appeared in person before the Magistrate court in Bengaluru on December 26.

She also filed an application for discharge in the case. The court has adjourned the hearing to January 6.

The court granted bail on a personal bond of Rs.1 lakh and cash surety of Rs.25,000. She was directed not to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence.

She is charged under Sections 196, 199, 463, 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The discharge application filed by her advocate was objected to by the complainant as Section 463 of the IPC is non-bailable and she had not yet obtained bail.

The high court on December 1 directed her to appear before the court in person on or before January 6, 2024.

The private complaint against Latha was filed by Ad Bureau Advertising, a Chennai-based company, which had financial transactions with M/s Mediaone Global Entertainment Ltd which made the movie starring Rajinikanth. The Director of Kochadaiiyaan was Latha Rajinikanth's daughter.

Latha Rajinikanth allegedly executed a guarantee on behalf of Mediaone Global Entertainment Ltd in favour of Ad Bureau Advertising and had failed to honour it after the film suffered losses.

Latha Rajinikanth had obtained an injunction against 70 media houses from publishing and telecasting wrong news about this financial transaction. The injunction suit filed by Latha Rajinikanth was dismissed by the court in 2015 and subsequently, Ad Bureau Advertising filed a private complaint alleging that a false document was used in the earlier injunction suit filed by Latha Rajinikanth.