Actor Ranveer Singh has been booked on charges of “insult to religious sentiments” during a public event, police said on Thursday.
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The โDhurandharโ starย was booked under Sections 196, 299 and 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 by the High Grounds police on Wednesday after Bengaluru-based lawyer Prashanth Methal (46) filed a complaint.
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An Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACJM) court referred the private complaint for investigation.
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According to the complaint, the incident happened during the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held in Goa on November 28, 2025.
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The complainant alleged that Ranveer, while present on stage and in the presence of the lead actor of โKantara: Chapter-1โ, performed acts that mocked and insulted the sacred Bhoota Kola tradition practised in Coastal Karnataka.
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Also read: After backlash, Ranveer Singh apologises for โKantaraโ imitation
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The complainant said he is a devotee of ‘Chavundi Daiva’, a revered guardian spirit worshipped in Bhoota Kola rituals, and that the deity is also his family deity, which he has worshipped since childhood.
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He alleged that the actor imitated the divine expressions of Panjurli/ Guliga Daiva in a “crude, comical and derogatory manner” and verbally referred to the sacred Chavundi Daiva as a “female ghost”. Despite an alleged request not to perform the Daiva act, the accused enacted an emotional Chavundi Daiva scene from ‘Kantara: Chapter 1’ on stage, the lawyer said.
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“Chavundi Daiva is not a female ghost but a powerful and fierce guardian spirit symbolising justice, protection, and divine feminine energy, and holds deep religious and cultural significance in the coastal region,” Methal said in his complaint.
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Referring to the deity as a ghost was described in the complaint as “blasphemous and a serious insult to Hindu religious beliefs and practices”. The complainant alleged that the accused, being a widely followed public figure, performed the act on an international platform with knowledge that it would hurt religious sentiments.
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The complaint stated that a video of the alleged performance went viral on social media, causing mental agony, anger and resentment among devotees.
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The complainant said he became aware of the incident after viewing the video on social media.
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“The act of the accused was deliberate, intentional and malicious, intended to outrage religious feelings,” the complainant alleged.