An Oriya movie allegedly preaching Maoist ideology has come under the glare of Orissa High Court which has constituted a committee to see if the film, in which BJD MP Siddhant Mohapatra plays the lead role, violates the provisions of the Cinematography Act-1952.
A PIL was filed recently in the high court by BJP’s youth wing president Bibhuti Jena praying for a ban on the release of the movie ‘Swayamsiddha’ across the state and calling for a CBI probe into the source of funding of the movie.
A division bench of Chief Justice V Gopalgowda and Justice Indrajit Mohanty on Tuesday constituted the committee and asked the Cuttack collector to file a report to the court next Monday.
Besides the Cuttack collector, city deputy commissioner of police, government advocate and the petitioner-advocate Kali Prasanna Mohanty are the members of the committee who would watch the premier show of the movie scheduled to be held at a cinema hall in the city on Thursday.
Alleging that the big budget movie was financed by dubious financers, the petitioner sought a CBI probe into the source of funding.
The petitioner also claimed that during shooting of the picture in the Mao-dominated dense forests of Koraput, Maoists had allegedly lent a helping hand.
However, Mr. Mohapatra has refuted the allegations.
