Kannada actor sends legal notice to BJP MP over 'trolling'

Kannada actor Prakash Raj on Thursday sent a legal notice to BJP Lok Sabha member from the state Pratap Simha over his alleged trolling of the actor.

"I have sent a legal notice to Pratap Simha as a citizen of this country for the way he has trolled me which has disturbed my personal life. I am asking him to answer legally and if he doesn't, I will be taking legal action," Raj told reporters here.

Simha, who represents Mysuru constituency, had tweeted on October 2: "Being sad due to son's death, having left your wife and ran behind a dancer, Mr. Raj, do you have any right to say anything to (Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister) Yogi (Adityanath), (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi."

The tweet from Simha, along with a link to an article by a Kannada website with the same line as its headline, had come just after the actor had blamed Prime Minister Modi for following those people on social media who were celebrating the murder of senior Kannada editor and activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead on September 5.

Raj had also criticised the UP Chief Minister for his statements and said he was a "better actor than him and that he must give away his national awards to him".

Reacting to the legal notice, Simha told a Kannada news channel that he had only retweeted the article.

"Even Twitter mentions that retweets don't necessarily mean endorsements. I had only retweeted an article," Simha had responded.

Raj said the legal notice had nothing to do with the political party that Simha belongs to, but was only a fight against the individual.

"Let the court decide if he should remain in politics. Citizens will not stop asking questions," the 52-year-old actor said, calling Simha a "serial offender".

Raj had lost his son at the age of five few years ago. - IANS