The accused Whatsup TV channel’s CEO Shahid Qureshi allegedly tried to extort money from the victims by blackmailing them with the content before airing it.
On April 13, Hamed Saberi, director of Trance Tech Media India Pvt Ltd lodged a complaint with the Saifabad police alleging that Shahid has damaged his family’s reputation by making a 30-minute long video containing false and defamatory content against them, which was circulated on social media.
The complainants, Saberi Brothers, alleged that Qureshi aired on the TV channel seven episodes containing highly offensive content describing their relatives as “thieves and criminals”. In the programme, Shahid Qureshi had stated that the Saberi brothers cheated Bollywood celebrities like Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan. Earlier, the CEO’s brother, Kashif Qureshi of Big Boss fame, had a fight with the Saberi brothers, who now allege that the programme was aired due to this.
“In the video, Shahid made several allegations against the complainant’s family saying that they have duped several people including some celebrities. After the complaint was lodged with supporting evidence, we sought legal opinion and then registered a case against the accused under sections 385 of the IPC and 66 of the IT Act. The accused will be produced before the court,” central zone DCP VB Kamalasan Reddy said.