New Delhi:
Responding to reports that a banker who attended his controversial show had to cut short a vacation after police called him for questioning, stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra has said he is “deeply sorry for the inconvenience”. Kunal Kamra has urged the banker to contact him so that he can plan a holiday for him anywhere in India.
“I am deeply sorry for the inconvenience that attending my show has caused to you. Please email me so that I can schedule your next vacation anywhere you’d like in India,” the comic said in a post on X.
I am deeply sorry for the inconvenience that attending my show has caused to you. Please email me so that I can schedule your next vacation anywhere you’d like in India –https://t.co/rASktiolKE
— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) April 2, 2025
The banker from Navi Mumbai’s Kharghar has said he was on a trip to Tamil Nadu and Kerala when he received a call, asking him to appear before Mumbai Police. The banker said he was called for questioning as a witness in the defamation case against Kunal Kamra for his jokes targeting Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The banker, who was supposed to return from the 17-day trip on April 6, received a call from police on March 28, asking him to appear for questioning on March 30.
“I left Mumbai on March 21 for the trip and was supposed to return on April 6. But I returned midway after repeated calls from the police while I was in Tamil Nadu. The officer who called me was sceptical about my out-of-town status and threatened to visit my Kharghar residence. This prompted me to cut short my trip and return early,” a report in The Times of India quoted him as saying.
“Despite me saying that I had booked a ticket for the show online and that I had proof of booking, the cops said that I might have edited the video Kamra has recorded. Why will the comedian hand over his show’s video to me (for editing)?” he said.
Mumbai Police has said no notices were issued to those who attended Kunal Kamra’s show, Naya Bharat, in Mumbai’s Habitat studio.
The show, which was shot last month and released on YouTube on March 24, sparked a massive row for Kunal Kamra’s parody of the popular song ‘Bholi Si Surat’ to target Eknath Shinde. The Sena leader’s enraged supporters reached the studio in Khar and vandalised it in protest. The studio also witnessed a demolition drive, with the civic body BMC citing building law violations. But the timing of the drive raised questions.
Three police cases have been filed against Kunal Kamra and the Madras High Court has granted him interim protection from arrest. The crackdown against the comic as sparked a massive political row, with the Opposition accusing the NDA government of targeting the freedom of speech and the Devendra Fadnavis dispensation defending its actions, saying that recklessness in the name of freedom won’t be tolerated.
