A Hyderabad civil court on Tuesday restrained Netflix from releasing its web series Bad Boy Billionaires after former Satyam Computer Services chairperson B Ramalinga Raju said it would invade his privacy in an unlawful manner, The Times of India reported.
Additional Chief Judge B Prathima granted an injunction restraining Netflix from airing the series based on a petition filed by Raju. The docuseries, which was scheduled to come out on Wednesday, explores the life of well-known fraud-accused Indian businessmen Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy, Mehul Choksi, his nephew Nirav Modi, and Raju. “This investigative series explores the greed, fraud and corruption that built up – and ultimately brought down – India’s most infamous tycoons,” Netflix said.
Raju was convicted in the Satyam scam, registered in 2009, along with three others. A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in April 2015 sentenced Raju and his two brothers to seven years in prison. The case is also said to be India’s biggest corporate fraud.
Raju’s counsel S Niranjan Reddy told the court that the case is pending at the appeal stage at sessions court and argued that the makers of the docuseries cannot conclude that he is guilty. Reddy also said words like “fraud, greed and cooking of books” etc cannot be used in reckless manner, as the makers have done. This will prejudice people and would invade the privacy of Raju, his counsel claimed. Reddy added that when the matter is subjudice, defamatory remarks cannot be made.
Choksi had also moved the Delhi High Court, saying he wanted to watch the series before its release. His lawyer Vijay Aggarwal had argued that the series can affect the ongoing investigation into the 61-year-old businessman and his nephew Nirav Modi in a fraud case. To this effect, Choksi sought directions to restrain Netflix from releasing the show. Both Choksi and Modi are accused of duping the Punjab National Bank of more than Rs 13,000 crore.
On August 28, the High Court had refused to allow Choksi a preview of the series, stating that the streaming platform has no regulation to regulate the content. The court also said that Choksi can file a civil suit as his claims of infringement was his private right.
Meanwhile, reports said that a court in Bihar has restrained Netflix from using Subrata Roy’s name in the web series.
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