CBI

Rakesh Kumar

Singham Returns

Kick

Bobby Jasoos

Central Board of Film Certification

CBFC

Indian Railway Personnel Service

IRPS

How Kumar was caught

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allegesstarted a system of collecting ‘speed-money’ to clear films, including big-budget ones likeandIn his brief, eight-month tenure as) CEO, Rakesh Kumar allegedly made a fortune by certifying big-budget films like Singham Returns, Kick and Bobby Jasoos, as well as short films and advertisements, in exchange for bribes.This is according to the chargesheet the CBI has filed against Kumar.Kumar, an) officer who was arrested in August 2014, has been charged under Sections 7, 8,12 and 13(2), read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act for demanding and accepting bribes. Sarvesh Jaiswal, who was on the advisory panel of the CBFC, and private agent Shripati Mishra, for facilitating “illegal” transactions, were also accused in the case.The case came to light when Mishra and Jaiswal were caught accepting a bribe on Kumar’s behalf for passing a film from Chhattisgarh called Mor Dauki ke Bihav, and for 13 advertisements respectively. However, the deal for the film did not work out.A censor representative and one of Kumar’s trusted aids, Krishna Palli, said in his statement that he regularly collected money from producers for early censor certificates, and in eight short months, had collected Rs 18 to Rs 25 lakh in cash. He would hand over the week’s collections, ranging between Rs 15,000 to 1,50,000, to Kumar.Giving details of the producers he has worked with, Palli said he collected Rs 1 lakh from Sajid Nadiadwala’s employee for Kick; Rs 50,000 for four promos of Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chilly Productions’ Happy New Year; and Rs 25,000 for the promo alone of Rohit Shetty’s Singham Returns.Another agent said that Rs 1 lakh was paid for Vidya Balan-starrer, Bobby Jasoos. Yet another agent, who only deals in Hollywood films, said he personally gave Kumar Rs 60,000 for the release of Transformers, and Rs 1.5 lakh for The Collection.Another agent, Ramakant Sharma, said he hadn’t given money directly to Kumar; however, through Palli, promos of Purani Jeans and D-Day were certified with Rs 20,000 paid for each film. “D-Day was converted from U/A to U by Rakesh Kumar,” he said.Just days before his arrest, Kumar had allegedly accepted a tablet and a laptop from Prakash Nathan, then director of operations with Disney India, for clearing the Tamil Film Anjaan on August 1, 2014.On another date, he said he had accepted Rs 50,000 for clearing the Telugu film Sikander. However, according to a disclosure made by Kumar while in custody, he had tied heavy stones to the laptop and tablet and thrown them into the sea, close to the Gateway of India.“As far as the evidence produced in the chargesheet is concerned, there was absolutely no demand made by client, and not an iota of evidence to that effect. There is a screening committee which recommends the certification, and then it would go to Kumar, so my client was not the sole authority to arbitrarily certify the films. In fact, he was the one who streamlined the online system.” Kumar’s lawyer Mandar Goswami said, while speaking to Mirror.According to the statements of unauthorised agents, sometime in April, Kumar had introduced a system of collecting speedmoney from agents to clear advertisements and short films on a regular basis.For clearing advertisements in one day, the rate was Rs 10,000; to clear an ad in two days, it was Rs 5,000; and in three days, the asking rate was Rs 2,000.However, the rates were different for feature films.Going by this rate card, from April 2, 2014 to August 13, 2014, censor certificates were issued by the CBFC for 174 short films by agents on behalf of several producers.In a day, the CBFC receives at least 30 to 40 clearing applications.Initially, the CBI said Rohit Shetty was under the scanner for bribing Kumar to clear his film Singham Returns. However, while the chargesheet contains statements of several witnesses indicating back-door dealings, Shetty hasn’t been charged.A censor certification agent, Tejram Mohare, applied for a censor certificate for a regional language film from Chattisgarh, Mor Dauki Ke Bihav, on behalf of producer Kshamanidhi Mishra. Mohare gave a letter for an urgent trial of the film and issuance of the censor certificate as it was to release soon. However, Kumar rejected the request. Mohare then met accused Shripati Mishra, who told him that Kumar would do the job only if a bribe of Rs 70,000 was paid.A trap was laid and Mishra was arrested red-handed accepting a part-payment of Rs 50,000. This money was supposed to be routed through CBFC member Sarvesh Jaiswal. But when Mishra contacted Jaiswal, he was told the film would not be passed as he had had a fight at the CBFC office and “sahib” would not do the job on an urgent basis.But, in the same conversation, Jaiswal asked Mishra for the bribe money with regard to 13 advertisements, a total of Rs 74,000. The next time the two met, Jaiswal was caught accepting a part-payment of Rs 40,000.In a disclosure statement after his arrest, Jaiswal said he had handed over the Rs 40,000 to Kumar at Infinity Mall on August 9, and had given Rs 1,06,000 on an earlier date, August 1.