Netflix launches series on corrupt Indian business tycoons amid legal dispute
New Delhi, Oct 5 (efe-epa).- Netflix on Monday partially released a documentary series on four allegedly corrupt Indian business tycoons after a court lifted an injunction that had prevented its premiere earlier.
The series, titled “Bad Boy Billionaires,” revolves around the stories of Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy, Nirav Modi, and Ramalinga Raju, four powerful and controversial businessmen who were embroiled in complex court cases related to fraud and corruption.
The Indian justice system had ordered Netflix to temporarily suspend its scheduled release on Sep. 2 following petitions by Roy and Raju, who alleged it would amount to defamation and illegal invasion of privacy, respectively.
Over the weekend, after a month of legal dispute, a district court lifted the suspension order imposed after Roy’s request, according to a lawyer representing Netflix, which was reported by local media gathering.
On Monday, the online streaming platform released three of the four chapters – related to Mallya, Roy and Modi – that make up the documentary.
The part concerning Raju is yet to be released pending resolution of his petition over breach of privacy.
Raju was chairman and CEO of technology firm Satyam Computer Services from 1987 to 2009, when he resigned after admitting to embezzling 71.3 billion rupees (about $1.5 billion) from the company’s funds.
Of the other three business tycoons depicted in the series, former head of Indian business conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar, Subrata Roy, was accused of defrauding small investors of millions of rupees, and he even spent a few months behind bars before being released on bail in 2016.
Diamond merchant Nirav Modi has been accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank – India second largest bank – of $1.77 billion along with his uncle, Mehul Choksi.
Choksi, who also figures in the series, had asked the Delhi High Court to view the series before its release in September. However, it was dismissed on the grounds that there are no regulations to control the content of online platforms such as Netflix.
Meanwhile, Vijay Mallya, head of United Breweries Group – which produces the popular Kingfisher beer among other products -, has been on the run and living in England since 2016 after being accused of fraud for not repaying large debts to public banks.
The legal battle over the release of Bad Boy Billionaires has been the biggest one faced so far by Netflix, which has argued that halting the show’s release “freezes free speech” and hurts the company financially. EFE-EPA
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