Popular comedian and actor Kiku Sharda, who had gained immense popularity for his onscreen character Palak on TV show ‘Comedy Nights With Kapil’ had been booked for mimicking Dera Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and "hurting" religious sentiments of his followers.

Hurt by Kiku’s remarks, Singh’s followers filed a case against him after he mimicked the self-claimed godman in an episode of ‘Comedy Night With Kapil’, which was aired on December 27, 2015.

Kiku was sent to a 14-day-long judicial custody. After his arrest, the actor also apologised.

Doston the act on TV was not to hurt anyone's feelings. My apologies to @Gurmeetramrahim ji and his followers. Let's spread happiness. 🙏 — kiku sharda (@kikusharda) December 28, 2015

While apologizing for his act, Kiku called himself a ‘god fearing man’ and clarified his act wasn’t meant to hurt anybody’s sentiment. “I apologise if my act has hurt anybody's sentiment. I never want people to get hurt because of my work,” he said.

"I respect religion and rituals. I respect all Gurus. I'm a god fearing man. It was just an act which was done with the intention to make people laugh. Channel also edits what they consider cannot be aired," Sharda said.

Interesting day ..... My profession allows me to be different people . Love it. pic.twitter.com/11Gur4Wihz — kiku sharda (@kikusharda) December 12, 2015

On Monday, Ram Rahim was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping two of his women followers over a period of time.

Kiku had the perfect opportunity to take a dig at the rapist "godman" as he took to micro blogging site Tweeted and posted:

“Enjoying a peaceful Chinese meal with no monosodium glutamate @mrsfunnybones @priyankasharda3,” he tweeted, tagging Twinkle Khanna and his wife.

Enjoying a peaceful Chinese meal with no monosodium glutamate 😊@mrsfunnybones 🙏🏻@priyankasharda3 pic.twitter.com/bCpLIwpVLs — kiku sharda (@kikusharda) August 28, 2017

Sharda was making a reference to Twinkle Khanna's column in which she said:

"Anyway, all this monkey business reminds me of a certain cheeky monkey and old colleague, Kiku Sharda who was jailed for mimicking the Love Charger. I think he should immediately go to the nearest Chinese restaurant to celebrate, order a beer and tell the waiter, ‘I don’t want any monosodium glutamate in my Schezwan chicken, you people should lock away your MSG too. Cheers!"

Khanna replied to Kiku's tweet saying:

“Hahaha! And life moves on with its tongue firmly in its cheek:).”

Hahaha! And life moves on with its tongue firmly in its cheek:) https://t.co/3dAz5dQ9x3 — Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) August 28, 2017

Judge Jagdeep Singh had pronounced two sentences of 10 years rigorous imprisonment in each of the two rape cases, said defence lawyer S K Garg Narwana.

The court also fined the Ram Rahim Rs 15 lakh in each of the two cases, of which Rs 14 lakh each would go to the two victims.

The Internet lauded the decision and praised the judiciary.