Mehul Choksi moves Delhi high court against Netflix series ‘Bad Boy Billionaires’, demands pre-screening

New Delhi, August 26: Mehul Choksi, the uncle of diamantaire Nirav Modi, has moved the Delhi high court against a documentary to be aired at OTT platform Netflix.

The documentary titled ‘Bad Boy Billionaires’ focusses on the fraud committed by many high-profile business tycoons in India. The poster released by Netflix shows Choksi’s nephew Nirav Modi, Subrata Roy (of the Sahara Group), now defunct Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya and Ramalinga Raju (former chairman and CEO of Satyam Computer Services).

In his petition, Choksi has sought the postponement of the documentary, which is slated to be released on September 2. The petition, filed by lawyer Vijay Aggarwal, further said that Choksi got to know of the documentary’s release on August 24 when he saw the trailer following which he started receiving phone calls from various persons across the world, including from Delhi, asking him whether he was part of the documentary and to solicit his comments, Hindustan Times reported.

Choksi further discovered, says the petition, that one of the persons seen speaking in the trailer was the writer of the book titled “Flawed: The Rise and Fall of India’s Diamond Mogul Nirav Modi” where his name had been co-mingled with Nirav Modi.

The petition said that Choksi fears his name may have been used in connection with Nirav Modi in the documentary even though his relation to the fugitive diamantaire is only that of an uncle and nephew.

The petition also said that the series might have an episode on Choksi which has potential of leading to a media trial. It said that the petitioner has the right to innocent and free and fair trial and such a documentary would cause serious prejudice to his case. The petition claimed that Choksi has been falsely accused of various crimes in India.

A brief hearing was held in the high court today where lawyer Vijay Aggarwal demanded a pre-screening for the petitioner and if his apprehension regarding his image getting tarnished is settled, then a chance may be given to him for agitating.

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, who appeared for Netflix, said that the documentary has a two-minute piece on Nirav Modi where mentions of Choksi has been made. He also said that that there is no regulation of content on the OTT platform.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/mehul-choksi-moves-delhi-high-court-against-netflix-series-bad-boy-billionaires-demands-pre-screening/story-lqkfWksB3pGxtpk3Cy8dmM.html